


The World Will Never Take My Heart

by thelittlelioness



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: (eventual) percico, Angst, Canon-Compliant, Fluff, High School, Humor, M/M, slow build but fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-06-18
Packaged: 2018-01-27 02:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1712186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelittlelioness/pseuds/thelittlelioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At certain points, Nico thought to himself that moving in with Percy to go to high school was the worst decision he could have made. It was only when both he and Percy grew up a little that he realized how much it changed his life for the better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Life Sucks But I'm Warming Up To You

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from a line in MCR's "Welcome to the Black Parade." The band is mentioned many times throughout the story because it is Nico's favorite band in my headcanon.
> 
> I've been working on this story for months, and I'm so happy it's finished! I hope y'all enjoy it!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, HoO, or any of the characters. Or My Chemical Romance, Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, or any other entity mentioned in the story.

What would have been an ordinary day at Camp Half-Blood turned sour upon the subtle announcement of Percy and Annabeth’s breakup.

It had gone unmentioned by the two, unwittingly leaving it to their fellow campers to figure it out. At breakfast, Percy did not sit with the Athena cabin as per usual. Since Tyson was still at Poseidon’s underwater kingdom, Percy was the only resident of cabin three. Chiron had giving him and other loner campers—there had been quite a few ever since the gods started claiming their children more—special permission to eat with whoever they wanted. Instead of hanging around with Annabeth and her siblings, today Percy ate his blue pancakes with Grover.

Of course, this act caused silently gossiping. Prior to the fact, Percy and Annabeth had been so attached at the hip that they were practically engaged already. They had been close during the years leading up to the second Titan War, but ever since they got back from Tartarus, they were literally never separated when they didn’t have to be. It was a coping mechanism and probably less healthy than they let on.

So it was certainly an obvious sign that they were no longer together when they weren’t, well, together.

“That doesn’t look good,” Hazel whispered to Nico as she sat down at the Hades table with a plate of French toast and hashbrowns. She nodded over to where Percy and Grover were sitting. On the surface, Percy seemed to be enjoying the conversation he was having with his best friend, but the longer Nico watched, the more upset Percy seemed, and the more he seemed to be trying to hide it.

Nico could get away with things like that. No one ever noticed if he stared too long. He could have been watching Percy for the entire duration of breakfast, and only Hazel would have noticed. And that was because she was sitting right next to him.

“Are you okay?” she asked him next, looking as concerned as she could whilst chewing a large bite of French toast.

Sometimes Nico wished Hazel knew about his feelings for Percy. He knew she would know exactly what to say to make it all better. Hazel studied her older brother’s face as he broke his gaze from the son of Poseidon but couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Also concerned with the well-being of Annabeth, she glanced over to the Athena cabin’s table. Looking amongst the many steel-eyed campers, she couldn’t find Annabeth.

Suddenly, Nico stood up. He hadn’t eaten much, which was by no means shocking: his chocolate-chip pancakes had been torn to shreds in an attempt to look at least somewhat eaten, the pile of scrambled eggs untouched.

“You should eat more first, Nico.”

Hazel heard him mumble something about lunch before he sank into the shadows.

~

Percy was absolutely miserable. As if his PTSD issues weren’t enough, things with Annabeth went south just when they needed each other the most. Maybe that had been the problem.

It had happened the night before. Annabeth had been a constant in his life for so long that it felt surreal to have that truth shattered. They had been through so much together—it didn’t feel like five years, it felt like fifty. Like a lifetime.

After their exit from Tartarus, they worked out a system. To combat the nightmares as best they could, Annabeth and Percy would sleep in the same bed. It was the only way it could work: whenever one was having a PTSD-fueled nightmare, the only person who could help was the other. They stayed together always and managed to keep the panic attacks at bay. Both of them would pick the mortal world over Tartarus any day, but that didn’t make the aftermath of their journey through the pit any easier to deal with.

Percy even insisted Nico take Annabeth’s room on the _Argo II_ when Annabeth joined his after he returned from his successful quest with Reyna and Coach Hedge. The boy was stubborn as hell, but Percy eventually got through to him.

When they made it back to camp in one piece after the war was over and Gaea diminished to barely more than nothing, Chiron was extremely understanding. There was no better alternative, and that’s how Annabeth moved into the Poseidon cabin.

He unwillingly replayed in all his head:

_Percy had been awoken by Annabeth’s quick, ragged breath as her nightmare ended and her anxiety attack started. He had held her, running his hands up and down the length of her arms, whispering affirmations into her ear. After the panicking subsided, they lay like that, Percy still holding her._

_Annabeth had started crying, quietly and almost unnoticeably. “What are we going to do, Percy? How are we going to survive and build a life together if the nightmares and panic attacks never end?”_

_“We take it one day at a time. We do what we can, we fight, we retire to New Rome.” He said this to convince himself as well as Annabeth, and she noticed this. When she was hopeless, he didn’t know what to do; when he didn’t know what to do, she was hopeless._

_“It’s not so easy, Percy. That’s what we’ve been doing and it’s not working. There has to be another way.”_

_He stared at the ceiling. Having nothing to say to that, he sent out a silent prayer. “Hey dad. Athena. I don’t know what to do. Annabeth doesn’t know what to do. But, um, it’s been kinda hard for us lately, and we were wondering if there’s any way to stop the nightmares and panic attacks. Like, going to a therapist isn’t going to work for demigods. And it sucks, to just lay it out there. Um. Thanks, I guess.”_

_Annabeth let out a breath, and Percy squeezed her harder. Nothing happened._

_When Annabeth sat up rather abruptly, Percy knew something was wrong. “I love you, Percy. So much it hurts. But I can’t—this whole ‘one day at a time’ thing isn’t really working. I think I’m going to go up to Olympus and work on the rebuilding efforts. I’ve got a lot of work cut out for me, especially without the help of Daedalus’ laptop. I just—I really need to be working on something right now.”_

_Percy sat up slowly, in shock. Was Annabeth dumping him?_

_“I’m not sure I can do this without you,” he admitted._

_“I’m not leaving your life! You can still see me whenever you want, but…” Annabeth trailed off, unsure where her statement was headed. She found her backpack and started stuffing clothes in it._

_“I’ll miss you.” As Percy talked, she shoved a bottle of shampoo and a pack of hair bands into a pocket of her bag._

_“You better not, Seaweed Brain.” Annabeth came to stand in front of him, much taller than him since he was still sitting. She placed a hand on his shoulder and trailed the other one across his cheek. “You deserve more than ‘one day at a time’, Percy. We deserve to have happy, magical, adventurous lives. ‘One day at a time’ isn’t happy, or magical, or adventurous.”_

_“I think I’ve had enough adventure for one lifetime.”_

_“Oh, but you haven’t. Demigod adventure, yes. I think we’ve both seen too much war and death for a thousand lifetimes. But we’re going to live. I’m going to be a successful architect, and you’re going to have a great career in...what is it you want to do?”_

_“Stay alive? I don’t know. I’ve been too preoccupied with being part of two prophecies and wars and all the danger in between to be worried about things like college and a career.”_

_“Well, whatever it is that you end up doing, you’re going to be amazing at it. There’s nothing you can’t be amazing at--”_

_“Archery. Geometry. Avoiding monsters outside of camp. Reading aloud in class. Getting my chores done. Not being expelled from schools. I could continue.”_

_Annabeth laughed despite the tears running down her cheeks. Percy wiped them away, but she shied away from the touch._

_“This is not a goodbye, Percy. This is not the end.”_

_She gave him one last kiss before slinging her backpack on and exiting the cabin._

_~_

Percy forced himself out of his thoughts. He was trying not to think about the night before, but the last thing Annabeth said to him kept replaying in his mind.

_“This is not a goodbye, Percy. This is not the end.”_

Funny, because that’s exactly how it felt. But Percy didn’t let himself get mad at Annabeth—it wouldn’t solve anything, and besides, she did nothing wrong.

You see, the worse part was that Percy understood her reasonings. There was no fault in needing to work on something to keep from going insane. A sort of kinesthetic coping tool.

And the scariest part was that part of Percy agreed with her. Maybe a few months ago, a few years ago, Percy would have said he’d rather have no life and be with Annabeth than have a great life and no Annabeth.

Now, he didn’t think he could say that. Yes, maybe he changed in the weeks of the war after they fought their way out of Tartarus. But the part of him that wanted to save the world never died. Saving the world over and over makes you want to keep saving the world, Percy decided. He could start a new chapter in his life: He would still live with his mom and Paul. After the events of the many months before, he missed them fiercely. He could volunteer and work on marine pollution and make his father’s realm better than ever. Maybe even enroll in college. Actually, no. Percy wasn’t really a college person.

For now, he would finish up high school. There was a visible goal.

He wanted to make Annabeth proud.

~

Nico walked into the laundry room at the Big House exactly two weeks later, black laundry basket filled to the brim with black clothes. Camp was going late this year because of the war, and there were only a few days left, so Nico wanted to get a load in before the summer-only campers made a mad rush to wash their clothes before heading home. Nico had an errant thought, wondering what it was like to have a home. It had been so long since he had one himself that he forgot. He didn’t have anything better to do, so he figured he’d just stay at camp. After Tartarus, Nico didn’t really find the idea of going back to the Underworld appealing.

He shoved all the clothes into a washing machine, adding detergent, and turned the appropriate dials. Growing up in the thirties and forties, Nico wasn’t very gifted with technology, but he knew enough. Self-sufficiency was his thing, and if there was one constant about the modern world, it was that there was a laundromat _everywhere_. They weren’t as common as Subway restaurants and dollar stores, but they were always there, lurking.

Nico turned to leave, but his favorite/least favorite black-haired boy came up to him. Percy filled up the washing machine next to the one Nico was using.

Nico’s wardrobe was all black, sure, but Percy’s was mostly blue. The entire load was blue shirts and blue jeans, sprinkled with the occasional CHB t-shirt.

Catching Nico watching him, Percy said thoughtfully, “I need to get more camp shirts. I’ve got, like, two left. They keep getting burned and ripped to bits by monsters and giants and whatnot.”

“I guess that’s the price you pay for being savior of the world,” Nico replied wryly and just a tad bitterly.

Percy looked over at Nico as if seeing him for the first time.

“I guess you wouldn’t know.” Then, “I didn’t mean it like that. You kind of are a savior of the world in your own sense. I meant it like since you don’t have any camp shirts.” His cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. “Actually, do you own any clothes that aren’t black?”

“Does my aviator jacket count?”

“No.” Percy laughed, and Nico never wanted to not hear that sound.

Nico shrugged, and Percy laughed even more. “Are you allergic to color?” he asked, waving his blue tye-dye t-shirt in Nico’s face.

“Well, if I were allergic to it, I wouldn’t wear my aviator jacket, would I?” Was Nico flirting? What was going on?

Percy just rolled his eyes and stepped even closer, continuing to flash blue fabric in the younger boy’s eyes. “You know, blue is actually a really good color on you.”

Was Percy flirting back? Time to step his game up.

“Well, then, in that case we should trade clothes. I would love to see your parents’ reactions: you wearing my ripped black skinny jeans—they’d be tight because I’m smaller than you—and a black My Chemical Romance t-shirt. I could take you shopping and tell you about all the best brands of guyliner and help you figure out which shade of black best suits your skin tone. We’ll go to Journeys and get you some black Vans, and then stop by the piercing parlor. I think an eyebrow ring would suit your face nicely. Maybe snakebites.”

Nico lost Percy at “My Chemical Romance.” Was that a clothing brand?

The confused look Percy gave him cracked Nico up. Many people could claim that Nico di Angelo was an emotionless ghost of a boy, who probably slit his wrists at the first sign of sadness. Not Percy. Percy had known the boy for four years, and he remembered when Nico was ten and obsessed with Mythomagic. Percy recognized that he was no longer that innocent little boy, and he knew that Nico had seen way too much for someone his age. Percy had as well, sure, but Percy would argue that Nico had it worse. The boy was originally from a different century, and had to deal with the death of his sister not long after entering the 21st. Nico had also been younger than Percy had been upon being thrust into this magical, dangerous world. Plus, you know, his quests consisted more of the Underworld than trekking across the mortal world, and he didn’t even have the luxury of being labelled as a hero for his risky accomplishments.

Anyway, Percy had known Nico for years, and had payed more attention than most campers. He had watched him go from happy to sad to sadder to practically suicidal, but this was the happiest Percy had ever seen him since before Bianca died. Nico was laughing, a genuine laugh that came from the stomach, and his dark eyes sparkled like black diamonds.

Maybe he was trying to not think about how adorable Nico looked when he was happy, but he found himself wanting to be around Nico more, for the other boy’s sake. If Percy could evoke these levels of joy in him, Percy couldn’t not be around him. And it wasn’t as if Percy didn’t like being around the son of Hades. Their friendship had faltered, but hopefully they could fix it.

They joked around for a little while longer, Nico telling Percy that it was good he had naturally black hair, because that way he didn’t have to dye it to achieve the perfect emo look. Percy then deadpanned that he was actually naturally blond, and had been dying it since he found out he was Poseidon's son, because he wanted to look the part. Nico went along with this, saying that in that case, maybe he should’ve dyed his hair green instead.

This ended with Nico mentioning how green hair would bring out Percy’s eyes, especially since the blue clothes made them look so blue. Naturally this tangent led to Nico inadvertently admitting how pretty he found Percy’s eyes to be.

“I can’t take all the credit.” Percy turned to face Nico as the younger boy switched his clothes from the washer to the adjacent dryer. “You can thank my dad.”

Not long after, Percy’s own washer dinged, signaling that the load was clean, and Percy stood up to take care of it. So when Nico sarcastically retorted, “Dear Poseidon, thank you, my lord, for gracing your son with beautiful eyes. They very much reflect the ocean,” Percy had to push his face into his wet jeans to smother the laughter that was bubbling up inside him.

“Are you crazy?"

“Hey, I’m the son of Hades. The gods don’t want to deal with my father, so they sort of turn a blind eye to it.”

“If I joked around with the gods I’d be worried that I would have an actual blind eye.”

Nico only rolled your eyes. “Stop being so melodramatic. You’re everybody’s favorite.” And this time, Nico didn’t say it bitterly at all, which surprised him.

“Not exactly. I can count on one hand the major gods who don’t want to kill me. Ares would happily stick a spear through my body if the opportunity presented itself, and if looks could kill, Athena would have killed me the moment she saw Annabeth and me hanging out. She’s probably rejoicing that we broke up.”

They both went dead silent after that, neither one wanting to talk about _that_. Percy was just starting to get over the initial depression, and, well, Nico was curious about what had happened, but he knew better than to bring it up. Nico had overcome his jealousy after he realized how much the two needed each other and concentrated his energy on actively getting over Percy. Which worked out _so_ well.

By the time both their loads of laundry were clean and dry, Nico was feeling hopeful. Percy was single, and seemed to be doing just fine. Their friendship was intact. Maybe Nico had been wrong in avoiding him all those times.

When Percy said, “See you around, di Angelo,” and ruffled his hair, Nico responded by hesitantly offering, “If you want to, you can sit with me and Hazel at mealtimes. I mean, I know you only have a few days left here, but.”

Percy smiled for real. “That sounds great.” Then his grin slipped a little. “But it’s been nice eating with Grover. He’s my best friend, but between the eight months I was gone without any memories, the war, and all of Grover’s Lord of the Wild responsibilities, we never see each other anymore. And I’ve known him since before I knew I was a half-blood, you know. I’ve missed him.” Then he cleared his throat and erased the nostalgia from his voice. “Actually, I know you guys only met briefly years ago, but I think you guys would like each other. Maybe after Hazel leaves for Camp Jupiter in a few days you could sit with him. I don’t want you to be lonely.”

And man, that hurt, because Percy _cared_. Surely Percy couldn’t have realized how much that would mean to him. Nico wanted nothing more in that moment than to kiss him.

Instead he flashed a sad but caring smile to Percy. “See you around, Jackson.” He scooped up his laundry basket, turned his back, and left.

He also left Percy feeling confused as to what was up and what was down.

~

Later that day, Percy was folding laundry in his cabin, putting most of the items directly into his suitcase. As he was smoothing out a pair of jeans, he heard a familiar voice call out to him.

Percy glanced up to see none other than the one and only Wise Girl in front of him, grinning sweetly through the glimmery film of an Iris Message. “Annabeth! What’s up?”

“I feel like it’s been far too long since I’ve said the words ‘Seaweed Brain’, so there we go.”

For a second, Percy felt a certain familiarity of this whole exchange: the smiles, the endearing nicknames, the general effortlessness of their relationship. It was all too easy to want to slip back into the same pattern as before. Annabeth could be all over the place sometime—like when she had that jealous phase about Rachel, or when she was working on a design and could never seem to focus on one thing at a time—and that did, at times, make Percy’s head spin more than he would admit to. For the most part, though, their friendship was pleasant and free of complications. That’s why, Percy supposed, the transition from a simple friendship to a romantic relationship had been so smooth.

“I’m not going to say that I’ve missed you, because then I think you would punch me in the gut, even through the Iris Message.”

Annabeth chuckled lightly at this, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Percy wondered what was going through her mind, then realized how foolish they were being. Perhaps Annabeth was thinking the same thing, or maybe she just knew him too well, because just then she voiced exactly what he was thinking.

“This is stupid. You’re Percy and I’m Annabeth. We’re best friends, and we’re acting stupid.”

Percy nodded to show his agreement, but then said, “Do you regret it?”

“Leaving?” Percy nodded.

“I’m not sure,” Annabeth admitted, looking slightly vulnerable. “Do you know what a trigger is, Percy?”

“Like on a gun…?”

“No, like in psychology. After a traumatic event, sometimes people get triggers, these places or things that bring back memories of the event. Being in a triggering environment can be really emotionally suffocating. I think being around you was a trigger.”

Percy processed what she said, typical smart Annabeth. But if that were the case, why was Percy the only one who had been able to stop her panic attacks? He asked Annabeth this now, moving across the room as he talked to store away the jeans he’d been holding and retrieve a drachma to continue their message.

“I’ve been doing some reading on triggers, but I still don’t know, not really. And that’s scary, not knowing. However, I do know that being away has helped. I miss you like crazy, but I haven’t had any bad nightmares and only one panic attack. But have you been okay yourself?” Her suntanned face wrinkled with worry.

“It’s been hard,” Percy confessed, staring into Annabeth’s steely gray eyes. “But like you said, distractions. I’ve been hanging out with Grover a lot lately, which is nice. Reminds me of the early days, when there was the usual summer quest, but the war was sort of a distant concern. And it’s not like I’ve lost you, right? I mean, we’re still best friends. Right?”

“There will never be a day when you aren’t my best friend,” she confirmed with a nod of the head. “One day, maybe, later along the line if we both survive, we can try again. That could be in a month or a year or ten—it’s too soon for me to tell. But I will try. As I left that night, I couldn’t help but wonder if you thought I was leaving you in more than just the physical sense, but that’s not the case at all. If you ever want to talk or hang out I’m only an Iris Message away. And, well, right now I’m in California, but once school starts I’ll be right by Olympus, because with all the things that have happened in the last year, the revision plans were never finished.”

Percy looked past Annabeth and saw Roman-style buildings, whitewashed with large colonnades. Annabeth was sitting at an outdoor cafe table, right next to a fountain  “Are you in New Rome?”

Annabeth nodded. “I wanted to visit my family before school started and I got deep into the revisions again. I spent a week with them, and it was nice, if a bit strained. Did a lot of exploring around San Fran…” Percy didn’t catch what she said then, because it was some nonsensical trivia fact about the Golden Gate Bridge. He had grown accustomed to tuning out her architecture fangirlings. “I know there haven’t been too many monsters since Gaea was defeated, but I wanted to be safe, so instead of spending more time there, I decided to come here instead. I never got a good look around Camp Jupiter outside of the quests and wartime, so I never realized just how cool this place is. We could learn a lot from them.”

“Except for the fact that the Romans stole all our ideas,” Percy commented wryly.

Just then, a dark-haired girl rounded a corner with a tray of burgers and fries and came to sit at the table Annabeth was sat at. As she handed Annabeth her food, Percy saw that it was Reyna.

“Reyna has been showing me around the city more,” Annabeth continued. “And sometime you should try the food from New Rome. It’s delectable.”

“Better than Camp Half-Blood food?” Percy challenged.

“Switzerland,” she announced in lieu of an answer, declaring her neutralism.

“Well, I should go. Dinner’s gonna be soon, I think. Enjoy your inferior-to-camp food.” Percy almost said “I love you” but he was unsure if that would be inappropriate, considering. He settled for “See you soon, I hope, Owl Head.”

Annabeth grinned. “Bye, Seaweed Brain. Tell Grover I said hi.” Percy nodded his acknowledgement to her and then ran a hand through the mist, ending the demigod video call.

~

“Pssst.”

No response.

“Hey Percy.”

Nada.

“Percy!”

Percy shot up, alarmed, and uncapped Riptide. Before he was able to kill anything, he noticed that his supposed attacker was, in fact, Nico. He put away his sword and sat back down on the bed.

“What are you doing here, Nico? Maybe you’ve spent too much time in the Underworld to remember, but right now it’s the middle of the night.”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Nico looked down.

“Hazel sleeps in the same cabin as you! Why’d you have to bother me?” Percy asked tiredly, annoyed at being woken up.

“She was sleeping peacefully,” was Nico’s answer, and Percy wanted to smack him.

“So was I, for once!”

“Fine,” Nico muttered low under his breath. “I had a nightmare about Tartarus.”

Percy sighed. “You get them too?”

Nico nodded. “Not too often, though. Being the son of Hades and all, I’ve kinda managed to desensitize myself to the horrors of the Underworld. But Tartarus is a whole different monster, no pun intended.”

Percy rolled his eyes at the pun, which, knowing Nico, was definitely intended. “You can sleep here tonight, if you want. Being around someone helps.” There was only one bed in the Poseidon cabin, obviously, so Percy shifted himself to the left and pat the bed next to him.

Nico hesitated. But what else was there to do? “Okay,” he said softly, too consumed by his thoughts to realize he was less than a foot away from the boy he’d been in love with since he was ten.

“What was it like for you, down there?” Nico asked when they were settled, both having given up on sleep for the time being.

It took a minute for Percy to respond. “When I was twelve, I went on my first quest, to retrieve Zeus’ lightning bolt. I’m sure you’ve heard some story or another. Well, it was also the first time I was in the Underworld. This was a little bit before anyone knew of Luke’s betrayal; I thought he was my friend. And of course he and Annabeth had always been close, so when he gave us these magical shoes, we all trusted that his intentions were honorable. The sneakers, actually, were enchanted to pull the wearer towards Tartarus. We had been in your dad’s realm when we figured it out, and it had been a close call. I remember wondering what that would be like, finding yourself in Tartarus. And it seemed like the worst thing that could happen to me, even worse than dying. Look at me now,” Percy chuckled uneasily. “And it was horrible. But somehow Annabeth and I made it through, together. I don’t know how.”

Nico nodded, not trusting his voice. They both looked forward, out the window. Each of the cabins blended into the night. Past the original wing of cabins, Nico could make out the sea and wondered if that dark, inky color was what Percy’s eyes looked like in the dead of the night. He let Percy continue.

“I don’t think I’ll ever recover from it fully, to be honest. Do you think you will?”

“I think I’ll be lucky if I survive to see the day when I wake up without the landscape of Tartarus branded into the back of my eyelids.” Nico paused, carefully forming his words. “There was a time when I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get past Bianca’s death. There was a time when I wouldn’t go to sleep without thinking up another new idea of how to bring her back. There was a time when the only thing I cared about was my father’s approval and respect. If I’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s that nothing is ever as it seems, not in the long run.

Percy was shocked: this was so unlike anything he expected to hear coming from Nico. “Man, you sure do take the emotional out of emo.”

Nico smiled then, a rare gesture that Percy felt almost honored to witness. “I do have a reputation to uphold.”

“Yeah, I can tell from all the My Chemical Romance clothing you wear.”

Percy watched as Nico processed this, a confusion flashing across his olive face. “I only have two MCR t-shirts. You do know that they were a band, right? Music and all that?”

“Oh, yeah, totally, sure, mm-hmm.” Percy coughed awkwardly.

“Should’ve guessed. You hang around the wrong type of people in school, then.”

“My own reputation in schools is already bad enough, Goode being the only exception. I don’t need everyone thinking I do drugs and slit my wrists.”

“Nah, that’s not what being into that kind of music is about. But I am curious—what is this infamous reputation that precedes you?”

“Did you know that before I went to Goode, the high school that Paul works at, I was kicked out of all of my schools within a year? By the time sixth grade rolled around, I’d been to six schools in six years.”

“Was it because of the unexplainable monster attacks or your rebel attitude?”

“The first one,” Percy answered tiredly. They were both starting to drift off. In his half-asleep state, Percy didn’t realize what he was asking until it was out of his mouth. “Goode would be good for you. Get it? But seriously, you should enroll.”

This got Nico’s attention. “What, live here at camp and go to school in Manhattan?”

“No, live with me.”

“Okay, besides the complete stupidity of that idea, I’ve been in your apartment. You don’t have room for an extra person.”

“We fit a giant hellhound in there that one time. Besides, we have a blow-up mattress.”

“I haven’t been to 21st century schooling in over three years. Wouldn’t it seem suspicious that I know, like, nothing that everyone’s expected to know from middle school?” Nico countered, not wanting to find a logical reason that this could work.

“Okay, first of all,” Percy began, and then yawned. “First of all, you’d be a freshman. You’re underestimating the stupidity of most freshmen, no offense. Second, you are smart—you do know a lot, just not necessarily the kinds of things you would find on an algebra test, you know? I think you’d be good at history.”

Nico searched for another excuse. He knew Sally Jackson would host Nico with open arms. If he stayed in their apartment, she’d probably make Percy give up his bed and then make Nico a large, homemade dinner to ‘get some meat on his bones.’

Nico tried to imagine it: going to school with Percy, living with Percy and his family. They could stay up until midnight studying for finals and stay up til one the next day watching Disney movies or horror films. He pictured waking up and beating Percy out for the first shower, because the gods knew how bad Percy’s always been at getting up.

It sounded nice, but it also sounded like a novel. (Read: not Nico’s life.) He was so used to living on the run and in the Underworld, with maybe a pit stop at either of the camps, that the prospect of having an actual home again seemed surreal.

Nico glanced Percy’s way again to see if he was awaiting a definite answer, but Percy had fallen asleep, his head slumped against the headboard of his bed in a position that looked anything but comfortable. Sighing, Nico gathered the remainder of Percy’s plush cerulean comforter around his body and closed his tired eyes.

~

Nico awoke at once. This time, however, it wasn’t a demigod dream or Tartarus nightmare interrupting his sleep; the light shining through the windows of the Poseidon cabin lifted the sleepiness from his body.

Rubbing his eyes, he peered at the clock on the wall, noting that it was a couple hours until breakfast. Although Nico was naturally an early riser, he usually didn’t wake quite so early. Then again, he was used to sleeping in the Underworld or in the Hades cabin, a building equipped with as many windows as the Aphrodite cabin had skull motifs.

Nico blearily located a pad of sticky notes from Percy’s bedside table and began to scribble a note. He cringed when he realized his action was the equivalent of leaving a goodbye message after a one night stand. Nevertheless, he forged on, writing “Last night helped” which was the closest he was going to get to thanking the other boy.

As a secondary thought, he added a postscript: “I guess I’m lucky that you aren’t invulnerable anymore, because we have combat together today.”

Nico peeled the post-it off the pad and stuck it to the pillow on his side of the bed. He returned the sticky notes to their rightful place and bolted to the bathrooms for a long shower, not wanting to wake Percy up.

Percy himself awoke some time later, and he rolled over, trying to see how long he could make the peaceful sleep last. When he heard something crumple underneath him, he frowned, because surely bedsheets were not supposed to crinkle like they were paper.

Maybe that was because he _was_ laying on a small piece of paper, a wrinkled yellow sticky note. Percy smoothed it out and read the rushed scrawl, a little memo from Nico. Even in his half-asleep state, Percy observed that it was written in pen. More to the point, metallic bronze ink. He instinctively stuck his hand in the pocket of his navy plaid pajama bottoms but Riptide was, of course, there. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously but moved on to get dressed for the day.

~

Percy and Nico were unfortunate enough to get combat training during the middle of the afternoon, when the sun was the highest and the temperature the hottest. And unless Percy wanted to start junior year with some uncomfortable chafing going on, he was not going to wear armor without a shirt.

So they were standing in the armory shed, plucking different pieces of armor in the appropriate sizes from racks and hooks. Just seeing how much smaller Nico’s breastplate was than his, Percy wondered to himself how such a scrawny boy could pack such a punch. Maybe it was all for naught, because even though he wasn’t arrogant or anything, he did consider himself a better swordfighter than Nico. But sword combat was his thing; Nico excelled at using his zombie soldiers to win battles, a fighting technique that was unique to the son of Hades.

They weren’t alone in the shed, but there weren’t many campers in there. Most of them had already lugged their protective gear over to the combat area. The doors to the shed were wide open, and campers assisted each other in putting on the heavy metal armor. It was really a two-person job, see. Only Elastagirl could do her own back straps.

They had the shift with some of the loner cabins as well as the Aphrodite kids, which explained why all the “pretty” armor was gone. _First come first serve_ , Percy thought as he caught the unexpectedly sour, sweaty smell of a last-choice armguard.

Nico did Percy up, since it made more sense for the shorter one to go first, not having all that bulky metal hindering him even more. As Nico threaded the buckle for one of the backstraps, Percy started, “So that note you left me earlier…”

Percy could feel Nico tense from behind him. What was this kid so afraid of?

Concerned Percy was going to start asking him personal questions about the nightmares or something, Nico let out a relieved breath when Percy didn’t take that route. “Did you use Riptide to write that?”

Nico shrugged. “It was easier than going all the way across the cabin to retrieve a pencil.”

“Taking Riptide _out of my pocket_ was easier than getting off your butt to grab a pencil?”

Nico peered at Percy curiously. “I can raise armies of the dead, and you’re surprised that I’m a gifted pickpocketer?”

Now it was Nico’s turn. He held the breastplate to his chest as Percy attached the straps in the back. “I guess I’m learning more and more about you every day. Though don’t let the Hermes campers find out that you can pickpocket—they’d never stop trying to include you in devious pranks.”

“Not going to be a problem,” Nico muttered. “And what do you mean about getting to know me? You’ve known me longer than most of the other campers I have to deal with on a regular basis; you’ve known me longer than Hazel has.”

“What I said on the _Argo II_? Completely true. You’ve done a lot of growing up over the past couple years, and I haven’t always been there for you. And it’s nice to see that through all the death and gore and hardships, I can still see the happy-go-lucky boy you used to be underneath it all.” Percy paused. “I’ve never known you on such a personal level, like I do with Annabeth and Grover and Rachel. It was all ‘I can protect your sister’ and ‘Oh hey, we’re probably dying, so let’s fight.’”

“You don’t have to be so nice for my sake.”

“You won’t think I’m so nice when I’m kicking your ass out there.”

“You think. Which one of us has lived in the Underworld?” Nico smirked at Percy, a challenge.

Percy rolled his eyes at this. “What do people do when it’s hot out? They pour water on themselves. Helps a lot, for me. Learned that my first week of camp.”

He held Nico’s steely gaze, neither giving in. After a minute, a young camper came in the shed to exchange equipment, and Nico broke off. “On that arena floor we will see who’s the better fighter.”

With that, he sauntered out like a total badass, leaving Percy shell shocked in his wake for the second time in two days.

~

It was a purple bead this year. Purple, with a mossy brown silhouette of a Greek warship. Just like last year’s, it had been etched with the names of all the fallen campers. The colors were intended to be symbolic of Camp Jupiter and the war against Gaea.

Percy and Nico sat beside each other at the campfire, the flames casting shadows on Chiron in the twilight as he spoke.

“You have been brave, children,” concluded Chiron. His gaze swept around the large fire ring, and as campers started to filter out to their cabins, it stopped slightly at them. Percy couldn’t tell if Chiron was supposed to be looking at him or Nico.

“There were less this year,” Percy noted, desperate to fill the empty silence. He toyed with the bead, unwilling to accept it. Most of his friends were safe, sure, but not everyone could say the same. Anyone he interacted with here could have lost a sibling or a best friend or a lover. He thought of Silena and Beckendorf.

“Do you ever wonder if there’s anything you can do about it?” Nico asked abruptly.

“What, the deaths?”

Nico nodded. “That must seem weird. I’m half death, really. Is that strange?”

“I think you’ve seen way too much death and suffering for a fourteen-year-old, no matter who your father is. Maybe that makes it worse, since you’re so tethered to it.”

“All throughout the campfire, I couldn’t stop thinking about Bianca,” Nico began. “Perhaps that was selfish: thinking about a girl who’s been dead for two and a half years, when there’s a fresh new batch of people who need to be mourned. But fuck that, because she was my sister. And I couldn’t get that day out of my head—when I found out, it was absolute misery. You saw how that affected me for the years to come. And now.” He laughed bitterly. Right now, Nico was acting more and more like the angry, broken bird he’d presented himself as earlier that summer. “Now, it’s not just me. It’s everyone. Everyone is feeling this. Does it ever stop?”

It was probably the wrong thing to say entirely, but— “Nico, more people were killed in the Titan War last summer. What changed?” And therein lay his mistake: as soon as the words escaped his mouth, he _knew_.

Percy shook his head, a silent negation of his inquiry. It went unsaid between them. He realized that maybe that was the reason he and Nico got along so well lately—hey simply understood each other without having to try.

The pit made an insane asylum seem like a joke. Every other hardship in the mortal world paled in comparison, and sometimes Percy did feel like he belonged in an institution.

After a while, the silence became maddening. “You should probably go to bed. Tomorrow Hazel’s probably gonna make you clean you guy’s cabin so she can leave camp.”

Nico stared at Percy, not quite understanding. Percy, of course, felt uncomfortable—whenever Nico looked at him like that, he couldn’t help but worry that he was actually staring into Percy’s soul.

“I’m not staying. I’m going home with you, remember? I’ve already contacted Paul and gotten him to enroll me at your school. One of the Hermes guys even forged my credits and background for me. You know that saying: ‘When nothing’s right, go left.’ Well, nothing’s right, and a scenery change will help, so I’m choosing left. And no, I’m not trying to allude to _Doctor Who_.”

“Who?”

“Exactly,” Nico smirked. “Back when Bianca and I were at Westover Hall, I had this friend who was really into science fiction. I guess my Mythomagic obsession attracted other geeks. But he figured that since you couldn’t get any nerdier than mythology games, I might like _Doctor Who_. It’s this really popular British sci fi show. Been on for like fifty years. I don’t remember much, but I do remember some controversy over turning left or something.”

“You are such a dork.”

At this, Nico stuck his tongue out at Percy. “I know you are, but what am I?”

~

“Percy, your parents are here.”

“Thanks, Argus.” Percy turned to Grover, who he was talking to by the strawberry fields. “You better not be too busy being a badass to visit me.”

“I don’t know, Percy. I can only get time off to visit the most important people in my life, and—” Grover teased.

“Whatever.” Percy rolled his eyes.

“You got that from Annabeth, didn’t you? The eye rolling?”

Percy tensed up, as one does upon the mention of their ex. He nodded. “The only part of my life, I think, she hasn’t influenced is my ability to make shitty grades in school.”

Grover laughed. “Well, if you went to the same school as her, she would have. There were a couple years when both of us attended camp year round, and so we had some classes. And she pretty much blew everyone out of the water.” He took a pause to relive the nostalgia, and then asked, “Are you two gonna be okay?”

“Annabeth is smart enough to know when something is off. You know, years ago she told me that her fatal flaw was hubris. She wanted to change the world, and she has. But that ambition—it’s not going anywhere, from what I can see, and I know her better than almost anyone. I don’t think she knows what she’s doing, only that it feels right. It hurts, but I have to trust her.”

“You are smarter than you give yourself credit for,” Grover told him, patting his shoulder. “You should go. Don’t want to keep your mom and Paul waiting.” As if to enforce this, Grover pulled out his reed pipes and played a tune that made the strawberry plants go crazy but that made Percy want to claw his ears off. The sad part was that Grover had improved quite a bit since joining the Council the year before.

Percy said goodbye to Grover and left the strawberry fields, careful to avoid stepping on juicy fruits. The last thing he needed was an earful from Mr. D. He walked up to the new wing of cabins and entered the Hades cabin. Without knocking. (Which was probably a suicide mission.)

The first thing he saw were images of death and the color black. The second thing he saw was Nico and Hazel hugging. Hazel’s back was to him, and he could see a couple tears flowing down Nico’s cheeks. Percy froze in shock, cringing internally at his bad timing.

When Nico noticed Percy just standing there in the doorway, his eyes widened. He stepped out of Hazel’s embrace and wiped his eyes, his sickly pale cheeks tinged with the slightest hint of pink.

“Um, my parents are here, so unless you want to shadow-travel to our apartment…” Percy coughed nervously.

Nico nodded. “Right. I’m ready.” He pulled his black (what else?) suitcase to the front of the cabin.

“Stay safe, Hazel,” Percy told the daughter of Pluto as he walked over to give her a hug. “Tell everyone at Camp Jupiter I said hi.”

“Will do. Be careful, Percy.”

“Yeah, yeah, like that’s gonna happen. But I’ll try.”

Hazel laughed and shooed the two out of the cabin and down Half-Blood Hill.


	2. You're Still Not Who I Thought You'd Be

“Mom, Paul!” Percy ran up and hugged his mom and stepdad, and Nico stood awkwardly off to the side as they said their hellos. He bathed in the happiness that seemed to ooze out of the three of them. Soon after, Nico and Paul started loading up the trunk of the Prius as Sally discreetly pulled her son off to the side.

“Were you going to inform me that Nico’s coming with us?”

“I didn’t?” Percy could have sworn he did, honest, but he _had_ been pretty distracted lately. “I’m sorry. His dad lives in the Underworld and his sister in San Francisco. So I figured…”

“It’s fine, Percy.” She sighed and rubbed his shoulder. “You’re doing a great thing. A little bit of warning would have been appreciated, though.”

“It won’t happen again? Although I don’t think our apartment can hold any more than two teenagers, so I guess it wouldn’t happen again anyway.”

Sally laughed and hugged her son again. “I’ve missed you.”

“Me too.”

Thanks to the combined man-strength of a scrawny fourteen-year-old boy and an English teacher, it didn’t take long to pack up the car. “What is _this_?” Paul asked, holding Diocletian's scepter forward into the backseat for Percy to see.

“I’d be careful with that if I were you. Nico used that thing to summon Roman ghost soldiers in Epirus. He got to keep it just like I have that Minotaur’s horn hanging up in my room.”

“...and Medusa’s head at the bottom of the linen closet.” Paul set it down gently, laying it diagonally from trunk to backseat so it would fit it the car, not wanting to upset its equilibrium and set it off. “Pretty badass, though,” he murmured to the boys as he assumed his place behind the wheel.

As they drove away from Half-Blood Hill and towards the island of Manhattan, Nico whispered to Percy, “Dude, even your car is blue.”

Percy cracked up. “Hey, mom, tell Nico about your blue hair.”

Nico listened earnestly as Sally wove the story. “It was college. I was halfway on my way to becoming drunk when I dyed it. It looked pretty cool at some of the concerts I went to, but it faded out in a couple months and I went back to brunette. It was better than getting a drunk tattoo, I suppose.” She looked back at the boys. “I’m not going to tell you not to drink, because you kids have saved the world, but if you do it, do it responsibly. And don’t drink _too much_ ; you’ll need your brain functions if you want to keep outwitting and beating up monsters, yes?”

They both nodded. “Your parents are pretty cool,” Nico whispered to Percy.

“They’re alright,” Percy replied with a grin. He lowered his voice. “But you don’t have to whisper.”

Nico just smiled softly and looked out the window for the rest of the ride.

~

“I have your class schedule,” Paul told Nico later that day, sitting him down at the kitchen table. “Since camp went late again this year, you and Percy missed the open house day. Like most freshmen, you have Algebra 1, world history, biology, and language arts. Gym is required for all freshmen, and I signed you up for Latin 1 as your other elective. I thought you would like that.”

Nico nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“Paul,” Paul said with a stern look. “I didn’t sign you up for honors since I don’t have any documents assessing your class difficulty at Westover Hall, and I know it’s been years since you’ve even been to school, but if you are fit for them you could have a schedule change at the beginning of the spring semester. Lunch at Goode takes place during fourth through sixth periods. Both you and Percy have fifth. You may spend the entire period in the commons or at certain areas outside, or you may spend it in one of many study hall locations, like the media center or a number of computer labs. ”

Paul brought out a few more papers. “Here’s a map of Goode. Look it over and familiarize yourself with it; most freshmen get lost on the first day anyway, so don’t be afraid to ask Percy or myself for directions should you be in need of them.” The map was printed on yellow paper—the school colors were bl and yellow, Nico learned, and the mascot was a bobcat.

Paul continued, showing Nico a smaller slip of white paper. “This is your locker number and combination. I requested you and Percy have lockers on the same hall for your comfort. If you aren’t familiar with the way the locks work, Percy can show you on the first day. It’s not difficult once you figure it out.”

Nico nodded again. He didn’t really know how to respond, since this was all so new, and Paul was loading him with _a lot_ of information. He thanked Paul for his generosity again.

Nico was nervous, of course. He was terrified. He and Percy didn’t have any classes together, but they would be seeing each other at lunch and in the hallways often. And he couldn’t just run away like he could before—he now had a responsibility to show up to his classes and at least try to do well. He owed it to Percy and Paul and Sally to make an effort.

“It smells good,” Nico noticed. He was talking out loud to himself; being so used to solitude he forgot he wasn’t alone.

“That’s the moussaka. It’s a Greek dish that I’ve loved since college. I suppose I can appreciate the irony,” Paul laughed. “You can go tell Percy that it’s almost ready.”

Nico walked down the hall of the apartment, running his fingers along the wall and gazing at the family photos that lined them. A picture around the middle of the hall intrigued Nico the most. It featured a younger Sally Jackson and Poseidon. The photo was candid; they really and truly looked like they were in love. Nico had never seen his uncle like that.

Nico continued on, not spending too long looking at any of the photos. There were pictures of Percy through the years, from toddlerhood to the present. The professional yearbook pictures were nice, they really were, but a picture of Percy at the beach—probably Montauk—with saltwater hair and sand covering his entire body stuck out to Nico. It looked like it had been taken when Percy was maybe ten, and his eyes were the exact color of the ocean behind him.

At the end of the hall, there was one framed picture that was propped against the wall under a hook, photo side facing the wall. Nico turned it around. It was of Percy and Annabeth, taken two years before. They had their arms around each other and were both grinning ear to ear.

Nico set it back against the wall and walked into Percy’s room—his room too, now. Percy was on the floor, so Nico set down the papers Paul gave him on the bed and joined him.

“Dinner’s just about ready.”

“Alright. Paul is a killer cook. You’re in for a treat,” Percy said, slipping a pillow into a red pillowcase. Nico realized the whole reason Percy was sitting on the floor was because he was setting up Nico’s air mattress. He helped Percy with the sheets.

When they finished outfitting the mattress with the best of bedtime comfort, they stood up, surveying their work with thoughtful nods.

Percy’s bedroom was...an ocean. Seriously. An underwater print circled the entire room, the sand up towards the ceiling to create the illusion of Percy’s room being an underwater fortress.

“It’s great, isn’t it?” Percy noticed Nico looking. “Rachel created the design for an art project freshman year when she went to Goode. She liked it too much and had nothing to do with it afterwards, so she turned it into a wallpaper print.”

Nico raised his eyebrows.

Percy continued. “Uh, space is gonna be cramped, but it’s better than either of us taking the couch. I’ve moved my stuff around, so those shelves and the two bottom drawers in the dresser are yours. I’ve got a bunch of stuff under my bed now, so now the desk is empty. I guess it’s big enough for both of us to do homework there, but there’s always the kitchen table or the living room. And the public library is close by, so.”

“Thank you, Percy.” He meant it.

~

That first night was like a sleepover. Percy brought out a stack of blankets, and Nico gravitated to a purple fleece one with bunnies printed on it, which ended up wrapped around Nico’s thin frame when it became too late for his aviator jacket to be comfortable. Percy showed Nico some of his favorite video games—first, a Batman adventure, then Mario. They ate gourmet brownies that were a welcome home gift and drank Mountain Dew even though it was, like, eleven at night. Nico had a giggle fit from all the caffeine as his car fell off Rainbow Road for the millionth time.

Dry Bones ended in tenth place, while Mario ended in third. Practice, Percy said. Nico challenged him to another game and beat Percy this time, fourth place versus fifth. He was a quick learner, Nico was.

When the caffeine highs wore off, they plopped down on their respective beds, lights turned off and eyes turned toward the ceiling.

Nico thought of Percy the last couple weeks of camp, talking both humorously and serious with Nico. He had seemed almost too eager to spend time with Nico, and for once, Nico didn’t think it had all too much to do with him. He recalled the photo in the hall, in time out indefinitely. “Why did you break up with Annabeth?” Nico asked hesitantly.

Percy kind of thought he heard sadness, numbness in Nico’s voice, and there was a childlike curiosity to him. There were so many questions _he_ wanted to ask Nico. But he thought getting the boy to talk would be impossible, so he worked on answering the question at hand. “We wanted different things,” he said simply, in a way that was meant to close off all related subjects of conversation.

If Nico noticed this nuance, he ignored it. “But _why_?”

“Annabeth is brilliant; she’s much smarter than I am, and she’s ambitious. She wants to change the world with her designs, and no one can ever convince her she won’t. When things started going downhill, she buried herself in work, and I tried to be what she needed, but it’s not that simple.”

“What if she didn’t make the leap, and you two were still together?”

“Nico, do you see that flower right outside my window?”

Nico craned his neck towards said window, and sure enough, there was a single, lone bloom planted in a terracotta flower pot. Dimly glowing purple, it cast a magical shadow on the white bits of its fertilizer. “Yes,” he said.

“It was given to me by Calypso. While at first my time on Ogygia made me question what I really wanted, ever since the Titan War it’s only taught me that I can’t think like that. Like, what if I had stayed with Calypso? It wasn’t good for me. I don’t do what-ifs.”

“I used to resent you more than anything,” Nico said seemingly out of left field. “I always thought ‘What if Bianca didn’t go on the quest?’ or ‘What if Percy hadn’t been the one to rescue us at Westover Hall?’ All these scenarios about what could have been.”

“I’m not going to pretend to be your shrink, and I am not the best person to give you advice, but you’ll be happier if you just let everything go, you know? Don’t forget, but don’t obsess. My mom taught me that, and it’s the way I’ve kept from going insane from all the loss.”

Nico pushed down a lump in his throat. “What’s high school like?” he asked, changing the subject. As much as Percy was like a puppy sometimes, he really was too wise for his age. Nico figured being a hero does that to you.

“Not as bad as you’d think, as long as you don’t make enemies with the wrong people and get your work done. You’ve had plenty of experience looking after yourself, so you’ll be fine,” Percy answered, drawing out the word fine tiredly. “I think you’ll like school.”

Percy couldn’t see because they were both still staring upwards, but Nico raised his dark eyebrows. “Why’s that? Because if I radiate nerdiness just so, then I’m not trying hard enough at my emo image,” he joked.

“Nico, I’ve never met anyone who tries so passive aggressively to repel people through their image. I think you’ve got that covered.”

“Then why?” Nico asked seriously now, genuinely curious. He yawned, an action he caught from Percy, who’d yawned a few minutes before. His heart hammered out a steady, quick beat as he awaited Percy’s reply.

“Because anyone who pays close enough attention to you knows how much you hate your situation, Nico—”

“My situation?” Nico cut in, his higher-pitched voice conveying his panic. His mind had immediately jumped to his unfortunate love for Percy and his closet homosexuality. Did Jason shatter his trust and tell Percy?

“You know, everything that happened with your mom and then Bianca especially, and your bad relationship with your dad and all that; you’re so isolated, and you hide away even though you know that’s not really going to help. Goddamn, Nico, the way you carry yourself most of the time just screams ‘outcast’ and I really do think going to school with mortal people your age who you can connect with over normal things will help you find wherever it is you belong.”

Nico didn’t say anything. He couldn’t think of an appropriate reply. Because, fuck, when Percy started sprouting things like this from his mouth, Nico wanted so badly to believe that he actually cared.

Percy was loyal to the bone, everyone knew that. It was part of the reason why Percy made for such a good hero: he would never choose anything over saving those he cared about. Nico knew Percy cared about him, but it was as a friend. Maybe Nico would go so far to say that Percy loved him like a brother, but that was worse. People just don’t fall in love with their so-called brothers.

Percy hadn’t neglected to try at making amends with Nico after the way he’d treated him lately, before the end of the war. Tartarus revealed the truth to Percy, and Nico knew the other boy wouldn’t rest until he made up for it—it was just who he was.

So no, the problem wasn’t that Percy didn’t care. The issue lied in the truth that Percy cared in the wrong way, and the way he conveyed this left something to be desired. Like, Percy was sort of being an unwitting tease, telling Nico these things and then brushing it off as just strong friendship, and it was messing with Nico’s head. Obviously, Percy wasn’t doing anything wrong—he had no way of knowing his effect on Nico, after all—but that didn’t make it any easier to swallow.

“I hope you’re right, Perce,” he whispered finally.

“Well.” Percy yawned, and as Nico glanced over to him, Percy closed his eyes. “Well, only a couple days until we can begin to find out.”

Nico nodded. “G’night.”

“Night, Neeks.”

It was the first time Percy had ever used that nickname, and probably just because Percy was teetering on the edge of unconsciousness. Even so, hearing that spread a warm feeling all throughout Nico as he fell asleep.

~

“Oh, good, you’re up,” Sally said to Nico, who had been flipping through a magazine that he’d found lying around, as she peeked into Percy’s bedroom. “I’ve made pancakes. Help me get that one up,” she requested, gesturing with a flick of the head to Percy, who was curled up amongst his various blankets and sheets.

Nico could feel his heartbeat stuttering loudly in his chest, but he quickly suppressed his attraction, wary of Percy’s mom in the room. When he looked up, she was gone; a minute later, she returned with a spray bottle filled with what Nico assumed was water.

It only took a couple sprits to awaken Percy, who, to Nico’s amusement, grumpily rolled over, murmuring something about five minutes. “You can sleep in longer if you want to,” Sally told her son, “but I thought you wouldn’t want the pancakes to go cold.”

At this, Percy shot up faster than lightning. “Pancakes?!”

By now, Nico was laughing so much he had to clutch his stomach and Sally was suppressing a smile. “Come on, boys. I’ve also got chocolate milk,” she called as she left the room.

Percy unraveled the covers from around his body and stood, smoothing out his sleep-rumpled t-shirt. For the first time, Nico got a good look at the boy fresh from sleep. He didn’t look that different than usual, besides the clumps of black hair sticking up at all angles as if Percy’d just been electrocuted. His face betrayed that he’d just woken up: the skin underneath his eyes was slightly purplish (to such a small degree that if Nico hadn’t already memorized Percy’s face down to his eyelashes, he wouldn’t have noticed.) and there was a little imprint on Percy’s cheek in the thread pattern of Percy’s pillow.

Nico would have kept on blatantly staring, honestly, if Percy hadn’t taken Nico’s hand and tugged him along to the kitchen. And Nico was glad Percy hadn’t grabbed his wrist, because then maybe Percy would have noticed that Nico’s pulse was so fast that he felt like he’d just finished running a marathon.

~

“Would you like coffee, orange juice, milk, or water, Nico?”

“Umm, coffee’s good,” Nico replied, taking a mug from Sally and walking over to the coffee maker.

“Can I have coffee, too, mom?”

“No, Percy. The chocolate milk already has enough caffeine.” Sally looked to Nico and explained, “Percy isn’t allowed to have coffee unless he’s at camp. He gets too hyper.”

Nico smiled at this, imagining a hyped-up Percy talking a million miles an hour and not being able to sit still. With Percy’s ADHD, he was like that a good bit of the time, because he never took his meds at camp, demigod reflexes and all.

As if right on cue, Percy picked up a translucent orange pill bottle from the back of the counter and downed one. “If only there were a pill that could fix my dyslexia,” he complained. “That would make school so much less shitty.”

“Language, Percy,” Paul warned, just now coming into the kitchen, fully dressed for work.

“He doesn’t care,” Percy whispered loudly to Nico. “He’s just used to being a high school teacher.”

“I heard that. Just be glad that you don’t have to go to school until tomorrow,” Paul said, and Percy laughed.

And Nico was that wide-eyed little boy again: he soaked up the image of Paul kissing Sally goodbye, of Percy drenching his blueberry pancakes in maple syrup, of the morning news softly proclaiming from the living room the latest US state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Before Nico got the chance to think about that, Percy asked him, “So school doesn’t start til tomorrow. My mom’s already got all your supplies, so there’s nothing more we need to do. What do you want to do today?”

“What is there to do?” They were in Manhattan; obviously there were a million things to do everyday, even at nine in the morning on a Sunday.

“Anything.”

And it was that one word that truly showed Percy’s soul to Nico. Percy ached for adventure, much as he hated it, much as it had killed people he loved. He had a wild soul, one that was perfectly content with just spending the day exploring the city with someone who was a stranger to it.

And that is exactly what they did.

~

They ended up at the beach, which Nico couldn’t be too surprised about. Percy bought them hotdogs with way too much ketchup (“Go put onions on my hotdog or I’m never talking to you ever again,” Nico stubbornly insisted.) and a 32-ounce Coke with two straws. (“It was cheaper than two regular drinks,” he justified. Percy didn’t care if people assumed things, but Nico wasn’t so confident about his sexuality.)

Nico was fine with just sitting in the sand and watching the waves advance and recede, but Percy pressured Nico into participating when he kicked off his Converse and socks to go to the water. Nico sighed and pulled off his black combat boots and socks and rolled up his pants to join in on the fun.

“Being around the ocean calms me,” Percy started, although that was a given for the son of Poseidon. He kneeled down and picked up a bruise-purple seashell that was half-buried in the sandl. As he stood, he pocketed it. “It’s where I go when I need to clear my mind. Spent a lot of time at the camp beach after the breakup, until Aphrodite showed up to give me her condolences for our failed relationship. Said she was hoping it would’ve worked out between us. I remember that on the quest I was on the winter I met you and Bianca, she popped in. She came to inform me that the reason I snuck on the quest was because I was in love with Annabeth, and that I wanted to be the one to rescue her. And yeah, there was some truth to that, but it wasn’t everything. Then, she told me that a future with Annabeth was plausible, and I was scared: a fourteen-year-old boy who was in love with his best friend.”

If only Percy knew how much Nico identified with that statement.

“She means well, many of them do, but it’s nice to come home and interact with people who can’t see your past and future and every action, you know?” A few more steps and the waves were lapping at Percy’s feet. He continued, further, deeper. Nico followed to maintain their conversation.

Nico nodded. “Definitely. Although, I’d take Aphrodite any day over Cupid.” And the words were out before Nico could stop them. He cringed.

“When did you meet Cupid?” Percy asked curiously.

“Croatia,” Nico said as vaguely as possible. “You don’t want to meet him. Cupid—or Eros, whatever—is an asshole.”

Now, the things Percy’d heard about Cupid weren’t the most flattering, but how bad could a love god be? “What did he do to you?”

Nico shook his head, adamantly refusing to talk about it. They were wading deeper still into the ocean, and Nico put his hand on Percy’s shoulder to steady himself as he rolled up his jeans more, as far up as the skinny fit would allow.

“Come on,” Percy laughed. “I’ve already heard the others ask Jason what, exactly, happened in Croatia. He’s more tight-lipped about it than I’ve ever seen him be. You guys were there when Annabeth and I were in Tartarus, right?”

Nico sighed. “Jason and I took a detour to Diocletian’s palace to get his scepter, which we wouldn’t have been able to make it through the House of Hades without. That’s where we met Cupid.” Percy frowned at Nico’s tone of voice: he was bitter, so bitter, and angry, and sad.

“What, did he make you confess your deepest, darkest secrets in exchange for the scepter?” Percy joked.

Nico nodded weakly. They were having this conversation. They couldn’t be having this conversation. They were.

When he saw Nico’s serious expression, the smile faded quickly off Percy’s face. He searched Nico’s face, Nico’s eyes.

“Your eyes are brown,” Percy stated, suddenly surprised.

“Of course they are,” Nico said slowly, as if having difficulty comprehending. Nevertheless, he was grateful for the distraction. He prayed to Aphrodite that Percy would forget their previous topic of conversation.

“I always thought they were black.” Percy shrugged, as if it was no big deal, but his head was spinning. How did he never notice how beautiful Nico’s eyes were?

Percy shook his head to clear his mind. “So what did he make you say?” After a pause, he was going to tell Nico that he didn’t have to say anything if he wasn’t comfortable with it, but by then it was too late. The words were already out of Nico’s mouth.

“I’m gay.”

Pause. Then, “Oh my gods. I just said that. I just came out of the closet. Oh my gods.” Nico waited for Percy to step back and leave, but he only moved closer. For a second, Nico hoped that Percy would lean down and kiss him, but his luck wasn’t _that_ good. He didn’t even realize he was crying until Percy wiped away the tears from his cheeks.

Percy considered this. He watched Nico blink away tears and shy away from Percy’s touch. It made sense: Nico was so withdrawn and antisocial that there had to be a reason for it. He had come a long way from the state he was in directly after Percy came back from Tartarus, but he still was noticeably depressed. When Percy first met Nico years ago, Nico’s skin had been a rich olive, and now there was this sickly yellowish paleness about him. This had to be about more than Bianca’s death and being the son of Hades. Nico had to feel so deeply, inherently alone for it to go this far, and that in itself made Percy’s heart heavy.

“Nico, take a deep breath.” As Nico focused on not spewing water from his eyes, Percy brought him over to where their shoes and socks were and sat Nico down.

“Say something,” Nico whispered, eyes puffy and throat scratchy.

“There are only two people in this world who I could’ve ever considered a best friend, and that’s Grover and Annabeth. But now I think I could say the same about you. You’re one of my best friends, Neeks, and that’s not going to change just because I now know that you’re attracted to guys.”

Nico wanted Percy to _understand_. When he composed himself enough to talk, he said, “I was born a long time ago, as you know. I grew up during a time when it was intrinsically disgusting to be gay, or anything like that. It was considered a mental illness. I know the world isn’t like that anymore, but…”

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re still Nico, you’re just a little different, and that’s okay. Really, it is. Plus, no one’s completely anything when it comes to sexuality—I’d be lying if I said I’ve never seen a guy and thought, _Damn, he’s attractive_.” ( _Just like I did two minutes ago about you_ , Percy added in his head as an afterthought.)

Nico raised his eyebrows, and Percy said, “I’ll have to show you the show _Teen Wolf_ —lots of shirtless, muscled guys.”

Nico tried to imagine Percy thinking something like that about him, but he just couldn’t picture it. Maybe for Andrew Garfield in the Spiderman costume, but not young Nico.

“C’mon.” Percy laced up his sneakers. “I know a great ice cream place not too far from here. We can get some rainbow sherbet to celebrate.”

“You don’t have—” Nico tried to protest, but Percy wouldn’t let him.

“No. Don’t even try. I recognize that coming out is one of the hardest things you’ve ever done. So we’re gonna fucking celebrate, because that took guts, and you need to know how loved you are, straight or gay or whatever.”

Nico felt like crying again, but this time out of happiness. What did he do to deserve Percy? Nico pulled on his socks and shoved his boots over them, not bothering to lace them properly.

“Are those blue socks?”

“...no.”

“They totally are!”

“I’m never gonna live this down, am I?”

“Nope,” Percy answered with a grin, popping the ‘p’ sound. “Let’s go.”

~

“So, how many people know?” Percy asked Nico as he sat down at the ice cream shop. There weren’t too many people around, so they chose to sit outside. Nico had been staring out at the cityscape as he waited for Percy to return with their “celebration” dessert, but now Nico looked Percy in the eye.

“Jason, obviously, because he was there at the time, and he’s sworn to secrecy. Bianca knew, and she accepted me no matter what. I was so scared to tell her back then because I knew what happened to people like me, but I was still too young to really understand all the complexities of it, you know?”

Percy nodded. He couldn’t stop staring at the younger boy because it just _fit_.

“What?” Nico asked self-consciously, looking down at his sherbert.

“Nothing,” Percy assured with a smile. “I’m just happy that you trust me with this. I’m glad that you’re doing better.”

Oh, the things Percy said to Nico. “I...am trying to be...less cynical.”

“Either way, I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you.” Nico put as much sincerity as he could into those words. “It really does mean a lot.”

~

Percy and Nico arrived back at Percy’s place around five. They’d been out for so long that it felt like it should’ve been later, even though the summer sun still shone brightly in the sky.

“Hey, boys. What did you get up to today?” Sally asked from the living room, where an old rerun of _Friends_ was playing on the TV.

Nico toyed with his skull ring nervously, twisting it around his finger. He wondered it Percy was going to out him.

“Went to the beach, got some ice cream, walked around the city.”

Percy gave Nico a small nudge when he heard him breathe a sigh of relief.

“Glad you had fun. Paul’s going to be home soon, and he’s bringing pizza.”

To this, Percy grinned. The two boys sat on the couch next to each other and watched TV with Sally. Nico tried not to be too obnoxious when he asked Percy questions about the show, although annoying Percy was half the fun. Percy was acting exactly the same around him as before, which lessened Nico’s anxiety a little bit.

They made their way through two and a half episodes before Paul arrived with the food. At one point, something Monica said reminded Percy of Annabeth. Sally must have thought of the same thing, because she asked her son how Annabeth was doing.

“Fine,” he replied, looking down. “She’s working on more of the remodels on Olympus.”

“You should invite her over for dinner sometime soon. It’s been a while since the last time.”

Nico coughed. Percy rubbed his neck. “Actually, mom, um. We’re, uh, not together anymore.”

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry.” She rubbed Percy’s back. “I know you loved her. It’ll be alright.”

Percy got up and left the room. Nico contemplated going after him, but he didn’t know what he would say.

When Percy later emerged from his bedroom for pizza, his eyes were red-rimmed and a little swollen.

~

Nico wouldn’t look at Percy as they walked to Goode the next morning, and he didn’t really have a reasonable justification for it. Percy had taken a banana from the kitchen counter and was eating it now for his breakfast. Nico couldn’t help the kind of thoughts it inserted into his head, and he was adamantly glancing anywhere but Percy. Instead, he indulged himself in watching the New York City sunrise.

“We can stop by the convenience store on the corner if you’re hungry.”

Nico looked to Percy, who by then had finished his banana and now only held the peel, and Percy could see the gears turning in Nico’s head through his eyes. Nico smirked. “I’ve decided that I want to start a diet to make myself healthier. So, no breakfast, and for lunch and dinner I’ll only eat the flesh of my classmates. I’ll spare you, of course, because if I killed you, your parents would kick me out and I’d be more or less homeless once again.”

Percy nodded sagely. “That’s good—lots of protein. You’ll be even more ripped than anyone at camp by the time next summer rolls around, and all the girls and boys will be throwing themselves all over you, which will be a wonderful opportunity to collect sacrifices. Eventually, you’ll gain so much power through your sacrifices that you’ll trump the gods and rule over the entire universe.”

They walked up to the threshold of Goode, and Percy threw his banana peel away. Nico raised an eyebrow. “I’m impressed. You really do know how to think long term. Maybe you’ll be my assistant. You kill them, I’ll drain their blood. Actually that would be a really good job for you—you could just drown them all easily.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” asked a girl Nico didn’t know as she joined them. She had caramel hair and freckles and wore skinny jeans, a lavender shirt, and a floral bookbag.“And who’s the freshman?”

While Nico was wondering how she could tell he was a freshman, Percy said, “Virginia, this is Nico. He’s a friend of mine from camp, and he’s staying with us for a while. Nico, Virginia. We’re kind of partners in crime.”

“I’m his protege,” she agreed with an energized nod of her head. “Percy here tends to attract trouble, as I’m sure you know if you two are such good friends that you’re living with him, so I simultaneously help him plan pranks and keep him out of trouble.”

Percy laughed. “Yeah, if you think that I get cut some slack because Paul works here, you’d be wrong. If anything, everyone’s more strict.”

Virginia snorted. “Except the lunch ladies. Last year we got away with stealing a whole bag of cookies, albeit for a good reason, and they never said anything.” She glanced at her phone. “I have to run. Jenny and I have lockers across the school from each other, so I have to stop by mine and meet her at hers before the bell rings.”

Percy hugged her. “It’s good to see you, Ginny. What lunch do you have?”

She glared at him. “If you call me that one more time, I will actually kill you. Whatever. I have fifth lunch, and so do Leonard and Chris. Jenny has fourth, but we have two classes together, so it’s okay. I’ll see you at lunch! It was nice to meet you, Nico.”

“You too,” he mumbled, just to be polite.

~

And the day went on, just like any other. Maybe it was surprising how normal it all felt, but maybe Nico had known this was the right path from the very start, ever since half-asleep Percy invited him to have this life.

That’s not to say that it was perfect. As every high school stereotype perpetuates, nothing about high school is ever perfect. Nico was half-convinced that the gods were conspiring against him.

So first period went smoothly. It was algebra, and while Nico wasn’t the best math student due to lack of school attendance, he was determined to do well. It couldn’t be that bad, could it? Besides, the first day was, as Nico found out, the day when teachers drone on about their boring lives and read out the syllabi as if it made any difference in the quality of the class.

It was second period language arts when Nico hit his first bump. The teacher, Mr. Whitman, was determined to “inspire each and every one of you creatively.” The class was small, only about twenty people, and Mr. Whitman had this annoying idea that they were going to be a close-knit group that participated in a whole lot of socratic seminars.

So, no, not quite what you’d expect from your standard freshman college prep class. It wasn’t like Nico’s peers were the outstanding students Mr. Whitman insisted they were. Quite a few of them were smart enough to be in honors classes but refused to “apply” themselves; the other half just didn’t care.

But, nonetheless, he wasn’t going to give up (yet.) It would probably be a few weeks before Whitman broke away from his delusion and put away his complex class discussions for his honors classes.

The first order of business, apparently, was an icebreaker. If the class was going to be close, they have to know one another on a personal level, after all. Only, everyone knew each other, except Nico.

“Take out a sheet of paper and write down your name, a hobby, your favorite TV show, and one interesting fact about yourself.”

Hobby: listening to music

Favorite show: _Teen Wolf_

Nico wouldn’t’ve been able to name five shows currently on the air, so he was fortunate that he remembered Percy mentioning this one to him the day before. He hadn’t a clue what it was about (besides the attractive shirtless guys Percy told him about), but if he had to guess, he would say it was about a teenage werewolf.

Interesting fact:

Well, fuck. If Nico were to jot down any of the random interesting facts that came to mind, it wouldn’t go down very well. Interesting fact: I spend a lot of my time in the Underworld. Interesting fact: I once spent seventy years inside a magical hotel/casino, but it only felt like a month. Interesting fact: When I needed to figure out a way to protect the love of my life from probable death, I devised a plan to bathe him in an enchanted river in the Underworld that would grant him invulnerability, even against an evil Titan.

 _Think normal_ , Nico told himself.

Interesting fact: I know how to swordfight.

Maybe that way his classmates would think he was some theatre nerd or fencing fanatic

Mr. Whitman (or as the sleazy dark-skinned guy in the back that Nico decided to call Tweedle Dee called him, Mr. Whiteman) collected the papers, and began reading the one on top. Basically, he would read the stats on a person, and the class would collectively decide the identity of the aforementioned mystery person. It was an easy game for people who all knew each other; all his classmates had at least one friend who knew them decently enough, Nico observed. But when there was only one guy no one knew, he stood out like a sore thumb.

“This person enjoys watching _Teen Wolf_ , listening to music, and he can swordfight,” Whitman announced to the class, and after a few moments of dedicated silence, someone called out, “It’s the new guy.”

Instantly there were twenty sets of eyes burning into Nico, and he looked down.

“Yes. Nico di Angelo. Welcome to the community, Nico.”

“What kind of name is Nico?” This time it was Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee’s fried.

“It’s Italian. I was born in Italy and lived there for nine years; of course my name is Italian,” Nico spat. Was murder acceptable in high school?

Tweedle Dum just rolled his eyes. “It’s a gay name. It sounds like your mom wanted you to be a girl and name you Nicole, but when you came out a dude she just made it shorter. The Italians might have good food, but they don’t have very good names.”

“Enough, or you’re getting detention!”

Nico clenched his fists, itching to slice this guy in half. A well-aimed punch would do, though, because Nico knew better than to bring his sword to school. Expulsion on the first day didn’t seem very appealing.

The bell rang, and Nico wondered if it was luck or a bit of help from one of the gods.

Good thing third period was gym, because Nico could’ve really used an anger outlet right then.

(It turned out that the only active thing they were doing that day was running for ten minutes, an exercise in which Nico excelled at, pushing himself until he saw nearly saw stars because, really, people were stupid. And his name was gay.)

~

After PE, Nico had Latin I. And he wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone besides Percy or Hazel, but he was excited. Latin was Latin, and obviously it didn’t come as naturally to him as Greek, but Nico had spent enough time at Camp Jupiter to catch on.

As it turned out, it didn’t disappoint. Nico’s teacher, Mrs. Briner, was equal parts educational and fun. She managed to scare half the class, including Nico, within the first ten minutes by mentioning her grammar songs, a tool she used to help students memorize tricky grammar, like the dative tense endings and all the different forms of irregular verbs.

(And, yes, Nico did have to suppress a smirk at her name, because he knew that Chiron had once disguised himself as Percy’s sixth grade Latin teacher under the pseudonym Mr. Brunner.)

Due to the lack of first-day material, class finished early, and Nico’s classmates talked amongst themselves or stuck their faces into thick novels. Nico sat there. Occasionally (read: at least three times a minute) he’d glance up at the clock.

That is, until the boy who sat in front of him turned around and introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Leonard,” he said, neither awkward nor confident. He just was.

“Nico.” Head down, voice formally polite.

“This may be weird, but I was a new student in the seventh grade. I know how it feels.” Nico recognized him from language arts, and _ouch_.

“I don’t know, it’s not too bad,” Nico returned with a ghost of a smile. “The guy who was teasing me in language arts tripped in mud during PE.”

Leonard laughed out loud. It was one of those eerie moments when the whole class went quiet, and his laugh reverberated around the room. As conversation resumed, Leonard filled Nico in. “That’s Josiah; his Thing 2 is Josh. They’ve been best friends since like Kindergarden apparently, and they’re equally as obnoxious. Actually, they’re rich stuck-up bratty douches who got held back their real freshman year, but obnoxious works just fine. Just ignore them. Although, I would kill to see Josiah whine about getting mud on his _brand new Jordans_.”

The bell rang, and Leonard and Nico came to the consensus that they both had lunch, so they walked together. Leonard asked Nico about Italy.

The one thing Nico never thought of was coming up with an alias, a story to tell mortals, so he improvised, picking and choosing pieces of the truth to include. “My mom wanted to reunite with my dad, who had left her, so we moved to the States when I was nine. Lived in DC for a while, and Vegas. My mom and sister died in a car crash, so I was living with my dad in California, and going to this camp on Long Island during the summers. But I wasn’t really happy at my dad’s, so a friend of mine from camp offered to let me crash at his place, and that’s how I ended up here.”

“Wait, are you talking about Percy Jackson? He’s mentioned going to some camp on Long Island.”

“Yeah, you know him?”

“My family moved to a bigger place last year because we needed more space for my new baby sister, but before that I lived just down the hall from Percy. For like a year, but still.”

They reached the cafeteria, and Leonard said, “Come with me.”

Leonard wove his way through the maze of students and lunch tables, and Nico followed. Surrounded on all sides by other people, kids near his age but not, Nico suddenly felt ten again. He almost forgot how to breathe when he realized this was his first schooling experience without Bianca.

They finally found the table, and Percy sat there with Virginia and a ginger guy. Percy smiled at him, and Nico remembered how to breathe again.

“So I found this loner in Latin, and I figured he could eat with us. Nico this is Chris,” he said, pointing to the ginger kid, “Virginia, and Percy.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Nico.” Percy shook his hand formally. Nico rolled his eyes and plucked Percy’s Granny Smith apple from his tray as he sat beside the green-eyed boy. Nico bit into it, and his expression at the sourness of the apple was enough to get Percy laughing for a full three minutes.

“I see you’re making friends,” Percy told him, like a proud father.

“Leonard and I have Latin and language arts together.”

“Man, it was rough, language arts was. Josiah made fun of his _name_. Like, he called it gay. I think Thing 1 and 2 are running out of ideas.”

“Who do I need to viciously murder?” Virginia asked.

“Don’t kill them,” Chris pleaded. “They donate to the yearbook. I don’t know why. But you should get revenge instead.”

“Give them a taste of their own medicine. Ohh, we should pit them against each other, telling them that the other is in love with them.”

As the rest of them brainstormed their vengeance, Percy whispered to Nico. “You okay?”

“I’ve dealt with much worse. If I can handle angry gods and bloodthirsty monsters, I think I can deal with a couple idiots.”

“I don’t buy it.”

“No, I’m fine. Just because of what I told you yesterday doesn’t mean you know me.” Lies, both were lies.

Nico took a deep breath. He wasn’t gonna cry on the first day of school. Maybe Josiah’s insults, illogical as they were, had hit Nico harder than he wanted to admit it did, but what he told Percy was true. He had handled much trickier situations. Even Percy was worse off right now, breakup and all. He’d made it so far, and he wasn’t about to give up.

“Nico…”

“I said I’m fine! Leave it, will you?”

~

The second day, it wasn’t as difficult. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum slept through the language arts lesson, a grammar review. Needless to say, Nico sucked at it, but they were allowed to work in pairs, so Leonard walked him through it. Or, really, they figured it out together by asking the smart girl a seat down.

Mr. Whitman commended Nico’s effort, though, because he “couldn’t imagine learning English as a second language.” Nico snorted as this; all of the things Nico had been through was enough to give any sane mortal nightmares and paranoia for eternity. He could handle the English language just fine compared to, like, Gaea’s giants.

Leonard walked with him to lunch, same as the day before. When they arrived at the table, Leonard set his bookbag down and left for the lunch line with Chris. Nico sat by Percy, who’d bought him Goldfish crackers in the vending machine. It wasn’t until after Nico heard a giggle behind him that he realized Virginia was there too.

She was leaning against a thick column, and in front of her was an olive skinned girl with long auburn hair. “You should go to class. You’re going to be late.”

“The bell hasn’t rung yet, and my class is right there.” The girl pointed to a classroom on the outskirts of the cafeteria. “They’re not even marking tardies until next week, Gigi.”

“Whatever, Jenny.” It seemed rude, but Virginia had a smile on her face.

Jenny looked at her watch. “Actually, no, you’re right. I probably should go now. Twitter says that Michael has the class next to mine, and I need to threaten or blackmail him into staying away from my sister. Word of mouth says that he’s been dealing a lot more lately, and apparently he’s roped a lot of new people into buying. Kayla hangs around _that crowd_ a lot, so I need to make sure he’ll steer clear of trying to sell to her.”

Nico didn’t know what to make of that. He knew he wasn’t even supposed to hear that, but he supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised. Guess the stereotypes about stoner teenagers were true.

Virginia kissed Jenny’s cheek and turned around, facing the lunch table. Nico was too shocked at that public display of affection that he didn’t even try to hide the fact that he’d been listening in.

“Eavesdropping much?” Virginia asked Nico (not in an unfriendly way) as she took her seat at the table, her hair blowing around from the vent above her. “Ugh, I always get the seat under the cold vents,” she complained to herself.

Nico blushed. He was caught listening in red-handed. “I, um, I didn’t realize…”

“That I have a girlfriend? No worries, it’s not like I go around with the word bisexual stamped across my forehead in black Sharpie. I wish it were easier to tell if someone is queer or not. Crushing on a straight girl is a bitch.”

Nico flinched. He still wasn't used to the modern take-back of the word “queer.”

Virginia noticed this and narrowed her eyes. “Unless—”

Nico sensed where Virginia was going and quickly mumbled out, “No, I’m not…”

“You don’t need to worry about Nico, Virginia. Trust me, we go to camp with a lot of weird people. So, yeah, generally open minds.”

Virginia shrugged.

Percy took Nico’s hand and squeezed it once before releasing it. It wasn’t meant to be romantic in any way, but artistic interpretation, you know? Or that’s what Nico told himself to excuse the pounding of his heart.

And having the new information that Percy knew and was friends with other LGBTQ people should have been reassuring, but it just made Nico think about how completely heterosexual Percy was.

Percy was there for him; shouldn’t that have been enough?

 


	3. I Could Have Been That For You

It was a rainy Sunday in early October, and Nico was trying to finish his biology homework. (Which cell organelle produces proteins? Ribosomes.) Percy didn’t seem to be trying very hard to read _Catcher in the Rye_. He couldn’t stop thinking of that time the year before when Annabeth was reading the book. She’d annotated her copy in orange ink that matched the cover.

He looked up restlessly.

“You should go to homecoming.”

Nico laughed bitterly. “You’re funny.”

Percy straightened his posture. “No, I’m serious. You came here to be normal, right? Well, you can’t get much more normal than school dances.”

Nico glared, but Percy was used to this by now and persisted. “Are _you_ going, Percy?”

“No, but juniors can go to prom, so there’s no point. Sophomore’s can’t.”

“Is that the only reason, because don’t people go to dances with dates?” Nico knew he was taking it too far, but that was thing, wasn’t it?

“What? This isn’t about Annabeth, Neeks. It’s not.” It really wasn’t, but the fact that Percy’s voice cracked as he said her name didn’t help his case.

“Have you talked to her?”

“Not since before camp ended.”

“Wait, have you even talked to her _in person_ since the breakup?”

Percy groaned. “No. I haven’t. Why?”

“Maybe because you’re still so unhappy and you need closure?”

Percy sipped his Coke and raised his eyebrows. “What makes you say that?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Please Percy. When I was ten, I idolized you. I know you better than you think. If you weren’t unhappy, you’d be challenging me to a sparring match every other day and buying brownies from the convenience store by the school just because.”

Percy stuck his nose into his book. “Do you think you’re some sort of love expert?” he muttered.

“I know more than you think I do, that’s for sure,” he sneered. “Now take my advice and just fucking talk to her, okay?”

Then, after a pause, “You’re mom’s worried about you. I can tell. I’ve sort of taught myself how to read people. Listen, we all know how much you loved Annabeth. But _this_ ,” Nico waved his hands around, “this isn’t helping you any more than drowning yourself would: it’s not ever going to work and it’s getting you nowhere.”

He had to get out of there. Either Percy should’ve gotten back together with Annabeth or gotten over her, but Nico couldn’t stand the moping. Later, he realized how unfair he had been, but in the moment, he was a bull seeing red.

Sliding his aviator jacket on, Nico left. He told himself he was taking a walk, because he knew if he shadow traveled, he wouldn’t return. And while part of him wanted to just call quits on the whole thing, something kept wanting to stay.

Down the stairs, across the street, down the block, into the shadows. Maybe he would shadow travel. He found himself in his cabin at camp because he couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. It was exactly as he and Hazel’d left it, only with a tiny layer of dust from a month and a half of disuse.

Nico laid down on the dark comforter. A minute later, he shot straight up again. He knew where he needed to go.

~

Nico paced nervously in the elevator. He didn’t _want_ to do this, he really didn’t, but he sure needed to. Percy’s face kept popping up in his mind; the raw _hurt_ that Nico found in his eyes was more painful than never having a chance with the guy.

As the elevator stopped, Nico took a deep breath. A strange sense of deja vu hit him when he caught sight of Olympus in all its glory. The last time Nico’d been there hadn’t been too long ago, when the seven were being thanked by the gods for their incredible service in protecting the world and stopping the inter-camp fighting. He and Reyna and Coach Hedge had stood off to the side from the rest, and Nico recalled how awkward it’d been when Percy had stood up and insisted that the three of them get some sort of recognition. A hero, Percy’d called him, not that Nico believed him.

Nico smiled grimly at the memory and forged on. Instead of going straight to the throne room like he was used to doing the few times he’d been up here, he turned right and made his way to a small building with powerful Greek architecture.

 _Knock. Knock._ Each rap on the door reverberated around Olympus loudly and Nico could feel the watchful, invisible eyes of the gods on him.

Annabeth opened the door, charcoal stains on her fingers and a pencil keeping her messy curls in some sort of cohesive updo. “Nico! Come in,” she led him inside the house, an apartment-sized building that had more Greek relics than any museum Nico had ever been to. She sat down on the white couch in the living room and Nico followed suit.

“What are you doing here?”

“You—” Nico cleared his throat. “You need to talk to Percy,” he told her urgently, staring down at a tiny coffee stain on the cushion.

Annabeth didn’t seem surprised. “How is he?”

“He misses you.” It was hard to get those words out, and as he said it, Nico’s heart shattered into a thousand splinters. “I think he’s trying to be okay, but, I don’t know, if you really look, he’s not quite there.”

She nodded. “I’ll talk to him.”

Nico sighed in relief, but he couldn’t stop the hammering of his heart.

Annabeth looked at him inquisitively. “Why are you doing this, Nico?”

“Because you and Percy are soulmates and he’s much happier with you around?”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t go as far to say _soulmates_. Best friends, yes. I can be honest with him in a way I can’t be with anyone else, and I’ll never love anyone quite the same, but Percy and I are not soulmates.” She fiddled absently with an errant curl, and Nico could just picture Percy tucking it behind her ear and going in for a kiss just like in the movies. “Your secret is safe with me, by the way,” Annabeth mentioned.

Maybe it was an exaggeration, but Nico swore he felt his heart stop. He looked at Annabeth, really _looked_ , and he let his eyes ask all the questions he wasn’t courageous enough to voice.

“I pay attention,” she answered simply with a small smile. “It’s not something to be ashamed of. You know, with Percy it was all so easy, but before that I had a crush on Luke. He was so much older than me and I was sure that it was unrequited so I did nothing about it, and before I knew it, it was too late, and Luke, at the time, was too far gone. I know what that feels like and how that sits in a heart. You shouldn’t deny yourself of the possibility just because you’re scared of rejection.”

Nico, admittedly, wasn’t so good with words, so he just nodded. Annabeth smiled at him as she picked up a sketch and said, “Well, I’m working on a deadline, so I’ve got to get back to it. Then I’ve got to study for a physics test. I’ll talk to Percy the next chance I get, ‘kay?”

“Yeah,” Nico said, and disappeared into the shadows.

~

When he emerged from the gloom, Nico found himself in one of the barracks at Camp Jupiter. It wasn’t a conscious decision, going there, but as he stepped out into the light, he knew it was where he needed to be.

The only people in the barrack were Hazel, Frank, and one of Reyna’s dogs. Okay, that last one was weird, but weirder things happened all the time. Nico didn’t question it.

Hazel noticed Nico and whispered something to Frank, who nodded, sent Nico a warm smile, and left, silver dog in tow.

She walked over to Nico and collected him into a strong hug. Nico felt a sob force its way out, and he buried his face into his sister’s gray hoodie. It was baggy and smelt foreign and Nico knew it must’ve been Frank’s, but he didn’t care, even if he ruined it.

Repositioning them onto a bed, Hazel rubbed circles into Nico’s back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Nico furiously wiped the wetness from his face and tried to stop crying, but he couldn’t, so he buried himself into the hoodie once more. A little while later, when the sobs began to subside, he opened his mouth, trying to figure out how to speak again.

“They’re getting back together,” he croaked out, wiping at his eyes to prevent Hazel from seeing the fresh tears springing out.

“Who?” Hazel tried to think of couples they both knew who had broken up, but she could only come up with one. “Percy and Annabeth?”

“He wasn’t over it, I could tell; he would never say it but he wasn’t happy. And I went to Annabeth and she agreed to talk to him and she’s probably doing that now. And as soon as she gets the words out he’s going to kiss her like he’s wanted to do for two months now. Everything will be righted in the world because they need to be together, why wouldn’t they be together?”

Even though Nico was talking too fast, Hazel picked up every word. She knit her eyebrows. She could only think of one reason why it would matter so much to Nico, and she’d be lying if she said it didn’t surprise her. That sent a pang of guilt through her, because how dense had she been to not pick up on this, her _brother_ , hurting so bad? He hid it well; he didn’t like to talk about his past much and had learned how to stow all his emotions away. Hazel just wished he’d open up to her, but she wasn’t Bianca, and she never would fill that void, not really.

“Nico. Nico, look at me.” She lifted his head, and he sniffled. Her heart instantly broke at seeing the pure pain in his eyes. “Do you love Percy?”

“He loves Annabeth,” he wept, not quite answering the question, but Hazel knew him well enough to see that it was a confirmation.

“Do you feel like you did the right thing?”

“Yes? I don’t know,” Nico sighed. “If I did the right thing why does it hurt so much?”

Hazel considered this for a minute. When she was killed trying to stop Gaea decades ago, it sure hadn’t felt like the right thing as she entered the Underworld, even though she knew in her heart it was. And now, she would make the same decision in a heartbeat. But Nico’s actions weren’t about the greater good of the _world_ , were they? This was all so much more personal than that.

Formulating her response to try and be the wise big sister she wasn’t, Hazel told him, “I think the fact that it hurts says that you’re willing to sacrifice for something bigger than yourself, which is so noble and selfless. But Nico,” she said, looking at him straight in the eyes, “you can’t base whether or not it was the right thing to do on your own feelings. This could be the best thing you’ll ever do for Percy and Annabeth, but it isn’t automatically the best thing for them just because you believe it to be."

Nico shrugged. Hazel was a wonderful person and sister, but she didn’t _get_ it. The only person who ever really understood him was Bianca, and he probably would never see her again, even in death. Percy was maybe the only other person on that list, but that was the source of his problems, wasn’t it?

On that note, Nico averted his eyes, needing a distraction from his traitorous thoughts. Eyeing a Polaroid of Hazel and Frank arm in arm that was taped up on the wall, Nico asked, “How’s Frank?’

Hazel smiled, though Nico could see it in her eyes that she knew what he was doing. There was almost... _pity_ , which repulsed Nico enough to get him pacing. It really had come this far, his own sister feeling sorry for him. This just made Nico feel sorry for himself. _It’s a cycle_ , he thought to himself.

“Frank’s good. It’s a bit weird, coming back with him being praetor. He’s different now, but we all are, I think. And the weirdest part is how everyone treats us like heroes. Compared to the fifth cohort status we had before, it’s definitely crazy.”

Nico smiled sadly, once again recalling how Percy relentlessly defended Nico right after the end of the war, saying that Nico deserved the same recognition the rest of them received. “That’s good to hear. You guys earned it.”

Hazel smiled and ruffled his hair. Gods, how Percy would tease him if he ever found out Nico let her do that. “Why don’t you stay the night? As praetor I’m sure Frank could pull some strings and get you a bunk in here for tonight.”

“I guess that beats going back to New York.”

Beaming, Hazel threw her curly hair into a ponytail. “Dinner is soon. C’mon.”

~

“You drool in your sleep.”

Percy jolted awake. His first instinct, of course, was to reach for Riptide, but then he saw that it was just Annabeth. Wait...Annabeth?

He looked to the clock; it was almost five in the afternoon. There was a history textbook on his lap, and the t-shirt he’d worn that day was on top of his dresser. He had some vague memory of tearing it off in an attempt to save himself from the sweltering heat of the apartment. The city was experiencing a cold spell, and, cold, Percy’d jacked up the heat right after he came home from school. Now he was cold once more, and he reached for the closest shirt, only to realize disdainfully that it was Nico’s. (‘I really just don’t care’ it read in bold text across the front.) Aware of Annabeth’s eyes on him, he crossed the room and put the shirt back on, a white one for the school’s swim team that he’d bought from Virginia last year.

Yawning, he proclaimed in Annabeth’s general direction, “I was hoping you’d be Nico.” Annabeth opened her mouth to say something but decided against it at last minute. It was only then that Percy realized what he said. “Shit. I just woke up. I meant, I haven’t seen him for a solid twenty-four hours. Dunno where he went.”

“Really?” Annabeth frowned. “I saw him this morning. He came to see me at Olympus.”

Percy groaned. “Which probably means he’s come up with some stupid, self-deprecating plan of some sort that he thinks will help others. We really need to figure out how to get that boy to understand that we actually mean what we say when we’re nice to him. He’s got the self-esteem of a suicide victim.”

“Yeah…” Annabeth agreed reluctantly. “Listen, Percy, I didn’t come here to have a conversation about Nico. Let’s get out of here.”

Admittedly, Percy was terrified. Those words coming from your ex were, quite likely, a sure warning sign of the ‘we should get back together’ speech, and Percy wasn’t even sure at this point if that was what he wanted. He didn't know  _what_ he wanted. 

But he got up anyways, putting on his coat and shoes. “Mom, I’m going out,” he called out.

“Is your homework finished?”

“I’m with Annabeth.”

“Go ahead, then.” She smiled at them from the kitchen table, where she sat drinking tea and doing the bills.

And with that, they were out the door.

~

A few blocks away from his apartment, Percy learned, was a quaint little coffeeshop. The light-up logo above the door was not lit, and a cardboard sign in the window was the only clue-in that the restaurant was open. Percy had passed by it a million times without ever really noticing it. Annabeth led Percy in and walked up to the counter. The barista, a short man who wore a t-shirt declaring his support for Goode’s rival school, smiled and asked for her order.

“Hey Giovanni.” She smiled warmly back at him. “I’ll get two blueberry muffins and two coffees, one decaf.”

Percy speculated to how Annabeth knew of this place. A hole in the wall, it wasn’t a cafe many would know about unless they were familiar with the area. Annabeth had lived at camp for years, but she hadn’t been up to the city much. He imagined her discovering it recently, bringing her designs of the Olympus remodel along when she needed a scene change. Percy didn’t want to flatter himself, but it was close enough to his place that he wondered if she had considered visiting him on lonely nights before changing her mind.

“This place has the best muffins. Plus, I figured you’d enjoy the blueberry.” She handed him his muffin and the decaf coffee. The place was empty aside from a middle-aged woman typing away on a laptop. They sat down at a table in the corner, right by a big window that lent a nice view to the garden shop next door.

Percy had a sudden deja vu moment: the scene vaguely reminded him of the time Annabeth kissed him on his birthday last year, starting their romantic relationship. He felt those butterflies return.

“Your designs going good?” Percy asked.

“Well,” she corrected. Even in their graves, Annabeth would be commenting on his grammar.

“Are your designs going _well_ , Wise Girl?”

Annabeth quirked her lips up. “Yes, they are. Not too long until construction starts.”

“That’s great!” Pride bubbled up inside Percy, finding its way out through a grin.

“Yeah. I’m sad the design process is almost over, but at least I’ll have more time for school,” she chuckled. “What about you? Is Virginia still trying to get you to join the swim team?"

Percy laughed, remembering complaining about it to Annabeth this time last year, a few months before he went missing, when things were still purely  _good._

“Yeah. She’s seen me swim, and she doesn’t understand why I’m not interested if I’m so good. But I shut her up last year by helping her with their fundraiser.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “ _Did you know even the guys on the swim team have to shave their legs_?”

Annabeth burst out laughing and rolled her eyes. “Gods, Percy, I can’t imagine you with smooth legs, wearing a swim cap.” Dipping a piece of her muffin into her coffee, she added, “How was Nico adjusting to civilian life?”

“Better than I thought, actually,” Percy answered, a fond smile returning to his face. “There are ups and downs, and Nico is Nico, but he’s doing well, I think.” Then Percy frowned. “Or at least he was ‘til he ran away. He’s probably with Hazel at Camp Jupiter.” He shrugged.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “You’re not concerned?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t say that. I am...I’m just tired of his dramatics. One day he’s happy and the next he’s not. One day he’s telling me his deepest secrets and the next he won’t talk to me. I just wish I understood him. Back in August I thought I knew him, but now I don’t think I do.”

“Well, if he is in California, he’s probably safe. I think some quality time with his sister will suit him well.”

“Why do you say that? Do you know something I don’t?” Percy asked, suddenly a lot more interested in the conversation.

Annabeth blinked. “No. If he’s so unstable that he’ll run away, then Hazel is probably the best person for him to be around right now.”

“Right.” Percy couldn’t help feel disappointed, though over what he couldn’t place. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket. “I think I’ll get my mom and Paul some muffins. You were right; they are amazing.”

~

By Friday, it felt really weird going to school without Nico. Percy had grown accustomed to having that companionship, and now that that was gone, there was an odd emptiness about the morning. Everything felt off.

“Any word from Nico?” Sally asked, delicately sipping her morning coffee. The sincere concern in her eyes betrayed just how much she cared for the boy, ever since he showed up at the front door, Percy in tow, with a crazy, brilliant, reckless idea to trek to the Underworld.

“No, but I think I know where he is. He’s got family in California.”

“Yes, Hazel. You mentioned it. Do you want to go see him and make sure he’s okay?”

“No, Nico’s capable. He’s better off with his sister right now. I don’t know why any of us actually thought separating Nico from the only person he loves was a good idea,” Percy asserted conversationally.

Sally raised a brow. “I wouldn’t say she’s the _only_ one Nico loves.”

“What do you mean?” Percy asked, frowning. He counted it off on his fingers: “His mom and Bianca are dead, Hades doesn’t really care about him, he has no other godly siblings besides Hazel, and he doesn’t really have that many friends. Me, sure, and he has this weird friendship with Jason, but that’s it, really. He got along well with Leonard from school, though.”

“That’s nice. Leonard’s a good kid. Does Nico have a girlfriend?”

Percy blushed. (Sally quietly made note of this.) “If he _were_ in a relationship, which he’s not, he would have a boyfriend, not a girlfriend. But knowing you, I’m surprised you didn’t figure that one out yet.”

There was a small, sly smile on Percy’s mom’s face, and he couldn’t figure _that_ out. “Oh, I speculated, but I didn’t want to say the wrong thing if my suspicions were proven false.” Then the smile faded from her face and a stern motherly one replaced it. “If you do decide to check up on Nico, make sure you meet Blackjack a little ways away from the apartment. Last time, he landed on the fire escape and it felt like there was an earthquake.”

Percy briefly wondered if for his mom earthquakes triggered memories of her relationship with Poseidon, and then he just really didn’t want to know. “Actually, I think I’m gonna go up to camp this weekend.”

Percy knew Nico was at Camp Jupiter; it was the only place Percy could imagine the boy going. He didn’t so much as care about checking up on Nico as he did his other friends. (And if Nico happened to stop by, well, then, it was all for the better.)

~

For the millionth time in his life, Percy entered Camp Half-Blood. He mentally greeted Thalia’s tree and walked through the threshold, at once feeling the magical buzz that was a result from both the protective force field and the hundreds of demigods cooped up in generally close quarters.

“Hey, Percy!” called one camper as Percy passed the volleyball court. He didn’t know her well, but he said hi back. She seemed to be killing it (not literally; you can never be too specific with this kind of thing at camp) in the volleyball game.

Since he didn’t bring too much with him, there wasn’t really any point to stopping by his cabin, but he did it anyway. Percy smiled at the nostalgic smell of Cabin Three: saltwater and fresh-baked cookies. The cookies could be attended to at dinner, but that reminded him…

Which brings us to the beach. Percy slipped a book out of his backpack and walked the long route to the beach. Camp brought back a lot of memories Percy didn’t wish to relive, but he really did consider it a second home. Percy couldn't think about his identity without recalling his godly parentage, and this place was where his demigod strength was fully developed. Well, that and the various battles and quests Percy’d accompanied over the years.

Kicking his shoes and socks off, he lay down on the sand, the cold, soft waves lapping at his bare feet. Percy opened _Lord of the Flies_ and cracked the spine. _Here we go_ , he thought, and started reading.

_The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat…_

A while later, a figure looming close by interrupted his sun, and Percy, now roughly halfway through the third chapter, looked up. Rachel Elizabeth Dare stood before him, her fiery hair illuminated by the backlight the sun provided. She wore a lilac sundress and was wrapped up in a Mexican-style striped blanket. They met halfway, Percy sitting up and Rachel sitting down.

“It’s great to see you again, Percy.” Rachel was always so nice to be around. They always had this easiness about them that made hanging out with Rachel a treat unto itself for Percy.

“What are you reading?” she continued, her voice taking on a curious tone.

Percy, who’d closed the book as he sat up with an errant seashell used as a bookmark, picked the novel up and showed the cover to Rachel, who nodded sagely. “That one was pretty terrifying because we were reading it in school just when I was learning about demigods and this whole world. You guys do great stuff, but all the monsters and rogue half-bloods reminded me of all the savagery in _Lord of the Flies_.”

“Little kids _are_ scary,” Percy agreed, laughing. The sun shone in his eyes. Rachel smiled; she wanted to take a snapshot of this moment in time: the sun shining ethereally, brightening Percy’s whole being from the inside out. Despite certain oracle powers, Rachel was no mind reader, so she didn’t know what was going on in Percy’s brain, in his heart. He seemed happy, genuinely happy, though. Certainly happier than Rachel had seen him in a long time.

It wasn’t that Percy was depressed. Rachel was actually surprised Percy was holding himself together so well, between Tartarus and Annabeth drama and just the general toll of being one of the most definitive heroes of his generation. But something had changed.

“So you’re doing your homework for once,” Rachel commented, thinking back to her time at Goode. Freshman year, homework was a relatively foreign concept to Percy. (Except, of course, the one actual foreign subject, Latin. But Latin was Latin, and it was one of his only ties to his alter ego that stayed under wraps during the school year.)

“Mom wants me to consider college, just in case. If I survive to that point I’ve got to be able to find a way to pay my way through life. _I_ think I shouldn’t waste my limited years on _more_ education, but my mom worries about me, so I’d never push it. Which means I’ve got to try more.” Percy looked at the book in his hands, observing the leaves tangled in the boy’s hair on the cover. “Anything’s better than than _A Tale of Two Cities_.”

Rachel nodded, promptly expressing a fervent interest in the historical significance of the novel—set around the time of the French Revolution—but a disappointment in the dull execution (pun intended) of the story as a whole.

Soon after, she left to run a few errands before dinner. Just like before, Percy lay in the sand, ignoring the slight chill of the Long Island October, and continued his book. It was peaceful, really.

~

Meanwhile, some three thousand miles away, Nico was just finishing dinner. Frank was seated with Reyna at the Praetors’ Table, leaving just him and Hazel. Truthfully, Nico was grateful for this. It wasn’t that he disliked the son of Mars; Nico just wanted alone time with Hazel and no one else.

Nico felt really strange about this whole thing. Was he overdramatizing the situation or was it just pathetic that he was taking some personal days by, like, running away to his sister?

For the millionth time that week, Nico imagined Percy and Annabeth together. It was a Friday night: date night. He mentally compiled a list of all the things they could potentially be doing. Watching a movie. Exploring some architectural attraction. Playing records and dancing. Eating together. Sleeping together—

Well.

Good thing it was time for dessert.

When Nico returned from the dessert table with a couple chocolate chip cookies for himself and a vanilla cupcake for Hazel, she leaned in and whispered, “Are you holding up alright?”

“How is it,” he answered slowly, forming his words carefully, running his forefinger along a cookie and connecting the dots of the chocolate chips. “How is it that no matter what I do, he always slips into my thoughts?”

Hazel smiled sympathetically. “That’s love, Nico.”

“Well, love sucks,” Nico muttered. Hazel put an arm around her brother. She just wanted him to be happy; why couldn’t everybody be _happy_?

Just as Hazel licked the icing off her cupcake, Nico noticed a sort of shimmer in the air in front of them. A second later, a face. Leo Valdez.

Leo didn’t wear his usual funny-boy expression. His mouth was stretched out, not in a smile, but in a grimace. His eyes reflected his grim disposition. Nico, ever-observant, swore he saw the beginnings of a hickey half-hidden by Leo’s mass of curls, and he repressed that line of thought before he started imagining the things Leo and Calypso did in their free time.

“Nico, Hazel,” he panted, catching his breath. “Something’s happened. Nico, you need to come back to New York.”

Hazel frowned. “Leo, what’s going on?”

“It’s Percy. He—he’s not doing too well. I’ll explain everything later, but right now, Nico, you need to be here. Hazel, you can come too, if you want.”

Something’s happened.

Percy. Not doing too well.

Percy. Not doing too well.

Percy. Not doing too well.

Within half a second, Nico was dragging Hazel to the edges of the room, and that was that. Shadows.

~

When the Athena cabin recruited Percy for that evening’s Capture the Flag game, they left out one crucial detail involving blonde hair and a magical baseball cap.

And what do you know, there Annabeth was, leading her cabin to the Red Team's HQ. Percy hadn't expected to see her, but apparently her schedule wasn't so jam-packed that she couldn't fit in a nice game of Capture the Flag. It had been a long time, Percy knew, since she'd been to camp, and what child of Athena couldn't resist the temptation of fighting and planning a clever scheme to win?

Despite the boy’s absence, Percy was grateful that Nico encouraged Annabeth to pay Percy a visit, otherwise this would be a very awkward occurrence. Perhaps Percy was just being weird; Annabeth, the team captain, seemed perfectly at ease when she went up to him, giving him his post for the game.

"You're on defense, Seaweed Brain. By the creek, go. We don't have much time before the game starts."

"What? No! We're not twelve anymore, Annabeth. I think I can handle an offensive position."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and insisted, "Athena always has a plan."

As Percy coddled his ego by reminding himself that border defense was an important and integral part of winning the game, he assumed his place beside the other defenders by the creek and uncapped Riptide. While he waited for the starting signal, his ADHD let his eyes find iridescent colors in his sword’s reflection.

He waited, keeping his eyes peeled and his ears straining to hear approaching attackers.

When the first blue plumes emerged, it was like a slap in the face. He’d been taking it easy after the war; this was the first combat he’d done outside of camp training sessions since before school started. He wasn’t quite rusty—Percy was too skilled in swordwork for that—but it did come as a slight shock.

 _Slash, par, block, slash, duck, pivot, slash._ Percy’s Roman training gave him a clear advantage: blended with his instinctive Greek fighting technique, he had a unique combat style that took aggressors of all types by surprise.

He reached far while sparring with a persistent son of Ares and slipped into the cool creek water. Typical Percy move, but that gave him the rejuvenation he needed to get rid of this annoying guy. (Not like _get rid_ of him; Percy most definitely did _not_ kill him. Phrasing is important, remember.)

And so it went. Most times he expelled the opposition across the creek and back into their own territory. One or two were able to slide past him and the other creek defenders, but the winner was never announced, so Percy figured they didn’t get very far.

Aforementioned Ares camper came back. His brute force was a bit of a challenge for muscular but relatively lean Percy, not that Percy hadn’t conquered monsters and giants hundreds of times worse. As Percy was knocking him back to the blue side of the creek, cheering red plumes dissolved around him.

Amid the chaos, Percy was barely able to make out a flag being carried by some of Annabeth’s siblings. While Percy wasn’t in the most celebratory mood due to being out of the center of this win and anxiety over the situation with Nico, he had to admit that it was a heartwarming sight. The end of the war brought more relief than joy; camp moral had certainly had its better days.

“I saw you take that giant Ares guy,” Annabeth said to Percy, holding up her hand for a high five. “Nice work.”

“Thanks.” Percy slapped his hand to Annabeth’s. “Whatever plan you had, it worked. Not that I doubted it would.”

“Yeah, some of my siblings were telling me about the newer campers, the ones who started showing up after you got the gods to claim their children more.” She looked at him and they began to walk towards the original wing of cabins. “They’ve been learning quickly, and the battles against Camp Jupiter gave them all real-life experience. So, I decided to let the newbies take offensive positions and give defense to the more experienced campers.”

“Brilliant,” Percy whispered to himself. He could never come up with large tactical moves like that, but then he wasn’t a child of Athena. As much as he sometimes hated the goddess (read: as much as she sometimes hated him) he had to hand it to her.

“One thing I’m not gonna get used to soon is that none of the other campers and Greek monsters know how to handle my combat style. I guess Roman training has really come in handy, much as I hate to admit that Hera did anything right. It makes it really fun to fight with Jason and Piper and Leo and Nico—ungh.”

Too wrapped up in his conversation with Annabeth, Percy’s foot caught underneath a piece of tree root. A fucking tree root. His arms flew in the air as his body fell down, and soon Percy found himself with a blade protruding into his left arm. A second later, electricity coursed from his arm throughout his body, from his eyelashes down to his toenails.

“Somebody get help! Alert the Apollo cabin!” Annabeth yelled to the campers mulling about nearby. She backtracked and filled her water bottle—empty from the game—with creek water, rushing back to pour it around the wound. She didn’t want to remove the blade when an Apollo camper could do it better.

As Annabeth approached her best friend, Clarisse was standing next to Percy, muttering. “I step away for five seconds to tie my shoe, and he trips onto my dagger! The nerve!”

“Priorities, Clarisse,” Annabeth said gently. She and Clarisse were fairly amiable these days. “You’ll get your dagger back. Would you carry him to the infirmary?”

Clarisse sighed. “Alright.” She picked him up and slung him over her, arm facing out so it wouldn’t brush up against her neck.

They walked in silence, Percy’s ragged breathing puncturing the air. A couple times, Percy would mutter words. The first time, he recited the quadratic formula, and Clarisse snorted, surprised he knew _anything_ about math. He kept quiet after that until they were nearly to the infirmary. “N—Nico. Come back…” His eyes started to droop.

Clarisse glanced at Annabeth, questioning. “You two break up and a few months later he’s got a thing for di Angelo?”

Annabeth only smiled tightly. It hurt, sure, because she and Percy loved each other so much. But it wasn’t right, and Annabeth suspected Nico was the one that Percy needed to be with.


	4. You Are My Sunshine

“Kayla, measure out half a cup of nectar and feed it to him in teaspoons. Austin, check his blood pressure.” Will Solace barked out orders to other children of Apollo, hoping to fix Percy up as quickly and painlessly as possible. The guy had certainly been through enough over the years. Will himself held in his hands Percy’s medical history forms, reviewing them and nervously looking to his friend’s unconscious body.

When Nico and Hazel popped out of nowhere a little while later, Percy was most certainly awake; in fact, he was doing well enough for a video call to his parents. Nico thought back to moments before, when he stopped breathing as Leo told them of Percy’s condition.

Percy noticed the two Underworld kids slither into the room, and said distractedly, “I should go. I love you guys,” and used his good arm to wave through the IM.

Good arm.

Hazel hugged Percy and talked to him for a few minutes. Then she left the infirmary in search for Leo, Piper, and Jason; she missed them, too. Nico probably had more to say to Percy than she did, she figured.

By now, most of the Apollo kids had left, doing all they could; only Will remained. He sat in an office off to the side filling out the necessary paperwork that unfortunately came with an injury of this caliber.

Nico walked up to Percy, slowly and unsurely. Insecurely, but that insecurity was not exclusive to this particular moment. It was more of a blanket descriptor for a good deal of Nico’s life.

It had been several days since Percy and Nico had seen each other. (When you’re a Big Three demigod, the limited days are stretched out to prolong life. It felt longer.) Maybe it was Percy’s nectar and Nico’s heightened emotions—or maybe it was just Percy and Nico, together, stripped of pretenses—but there was definitely something there. Staring; a smile on the injured boy’s part, a tear on the Italian’s.

“I guess I know for the future that if you ever run away, I just have to put myself in danger, and you’ll come shadow-traveling back within an instant,” Percy said conversationally.

Nico, for one, had two two basic facial expressions: smirk and scowl. Now he was was scowling—how could Percy be joking around when he could’ve been killed?

“How are you doing?” Nico asked in his Serious Voice.

“Fine, really. They’ve got me drugged on all the finest nectar, so there’s no pain.”

“What happened, anyway? All Leo said was that you weren’t doing so well.”

So Percy gave Nico a rundown on all that occurred, from the end of the Capture the Flag game up until his conversation with his mom and Paul. In excruciating detail, but Nico was pretty sure that was to annoy Nico into being convinced that Percy was, in fact, completely okay.

“You survive taking a dip in the River Styx and going through Tartarus and then you gravely injure yourself by tripping and falling on Clarisse’s electric spear?” Nico’s tone was halfway between deadpan and genuine incredulity.

“No one ever said I was smart,” Percy commented, and Nico snorted. To this, Percy put up a fuss. “Hey—you’re not supposed to agree!” With his good arm, he smacked Nico’s lazily.

“I heard Annabeth came up with a plan that led your team to victory,” Nico said conversationally, trying to squeeze in his agenda of getting an update on the two.

“She had all the newbies give offense a try.”

“Innovative,” Nico commented with a raise of his brow.

Percy nodded. “How was Camp Jupiter?”

Nico frowned. “How’d you know I went to Camp Jupiter?” he asked shyly, in a tone that Percy found just completely and totally adorable.

“I know you better than you think, di Angelo,” Percy teased.

This was one of those times where Percy said something that really made Nico wonder what, exactly, Percy’s feelings were towards him. So he tried for honesty. “It was nice. I spent the whole time with Hazel. Just what the doctor ordered.”

“Good.” Percy smiled, genuinely happy for Nico. Then he smirked. “How are the burgers there?”

“Pretty good. I’d say the ones here are better, though. Why?”

“Nothing. Just when Annabeth was there a couple weeks after we broke up, she commented on their burgers.”

Which reminded Nico.

“Did Annabeth visit you?”

“Yeah, we got these great muffins at this tiny little cafe. It was great to catch up without any bitterness over our breakup.”

Nico nodded, absorbing this. “So you two are back together?” he asked, tone like a parent checking to see if their child’s chores were finished.

Percy closed his eyes languidly. “No, we’re not. I love her, but it just wasn’t working out, and a few months apart wasn’t going to change that, much as we both wanted it to.”

“But you two are made for each other!!” Nico exclaimed, frustrated that Percy wouldn’t do the one thing that would make him happy.

Percy opened his eyes and peered at Nico intently. “You’re not listening, Nico. We were great for a time but that ship has sailed. It’s over, and I’m not sure we’ll ever get back together. I know I haven’t been the happiest about it, but it’s what’s right for both of us.” Percy caught Nico’s eyes. “This isn’t about Annabeth and me, is it? It’s about you. What’s your deal?”

The was silence for some time, and Percy watched as various expressions and emotions crossed Nico’s face. Was he staring? Maybe, but Nico was too wrapped up in whatever he wanted to say that he didn’t notice.

 _Fuck it_ , Nico decided. _He’s going to find out eventually, better from me now than from everyone else later._

Nico’s eyes met Percy’s once again. He opened his mouth and began speaking all too quickly. “I just…” He took a deep breath and started over, gesturing between them. “Don’t you see? You and me; Nico and Percy; black and blue. When you invited me to come home with you at the end of the summer, I thought it was too good to be true. With Annabeth out of the picture and our friendship reformed, I regained this hope I’d lost for so long. For some reason you enjoyed spending time with me, and I held on to that like a lifeline. It was inevitable that this would kill me in the end. When things started to look up after all the grieving over Bianca, I wondered if I could ever be truly happy again. I have that with you. And, well—”

Before he could finish his confession, Will Solace popped into the room. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” he asked, looking from Percy to Nico and back. Percy looked like he was going to say something, but Nico shook his head. Will tinkered on some of the machines for a few minutes and fed Percy another teaspoon of nectar. “It looks like you’ll be good to go really soon, Percy. Just lay low for a little while, alright?”

Percy nodded. Will left, and as soon as he was out of earshot, Percy said, “Go on.”

“It’s nothing,” Nico replied, wiping away the tears he hadn’t realized he’d shed.

“No, it’s not.”

Something snapped in Nico. “Why are you so adamant about knowing all my secrets?” He searched Percy’s face but only found pure resolve. Percy’s eyes changed hue ever so slightly; right now, they were the shade that they always were whenever Percy was caring too much. Nico had all of these colors memorized, of course.

“I don’t care about your secrets, I just want to know why you’ve been hurting so badly for so long. I know it’s more than Bianca, so don’t give me that excuse. Is this about your sexuality? What is it? I may not have always been a good friend to you, and I’m sorry for that, I really am, but I care about you, and I don’t want to see you hurting like this!”

Nico nodded in defeat. “It’s not about me being gay. Not really. You were right—being around mortal, modern people helped me accept it more.Virginia helped, too, although she doesn’t know it. She’s just so _confident_ about her bisexuality.” He smiled to try to convince Percy. “Look, just forget I brought it up. I have to go; I’ll see you back at your place, okay?”

“Wait, Neeks...” But it was futile.

No matter what Percy’s  feelings were, Nico didn’t want to spit out his own feelings in an argument. Call him old fashioned, but he was a thirties boy, after all. He wanted it to be romantic.

He wanted it to be perfect.

~

It took a week, but soon enough Percy was back on his A game. All the nectar still in his system gave him an edge, and Sally claimed he was as hyper as he was as a child, before being diagnosed with ADHD. Percy was picking fights with bullies at school and then beating them in their own game before the first punch was even thrown.

Homecoming was the day before Halloween. Neither of them mentioned the dance because they wanted to move on from that argument. The rest of their friend group was at the dance, so they had a nice little Halloween party with just their family.

They decided to leave the costumes for the next day. Percy was going to be a gladiator, Paul a zombie (he had a great love for theatrical makeup, according to Percy), and Sally a pirate.

“What should I be?”

“You don’t have a costume?”

“I had other things on my mind. Like, you nearly dying.”

“Okay, it wasn’t _that_ bad,” Percy said. He examined Nico for a minute, rubbing his chin. “You should be a mummy. Thanks to that sale at Costco we have a ton of toilet paper. What do you think?”

Nico gulped, imagining Percy wrapping toilet paper around his body. Blood flowed south a little upon the thought of Percy close to...those areas.

Clearly he liked to put himself in teasing scenarios, so he agreed.

Percy left the room to make the caramel popcorn he’d promised Nico the night before. “Put in a DVD,” Percy yelled to Nico.

Nico walked over to the movie shelf, running his finger along the spines of the DVDs. The title _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ stuck out to him. He thought it was more of a winter holiday movie, but upon reading the blurb on the back cover, he thought it was perfect for the occasion.

When the rest of them came in the living room with the popcorn and drinks, Percy commented on Nico’s superb choice, and Nico blushed.

The movie was a sing-along version, and Nico even found himself crooning the lyrics with Percy’s family.

And afterwards, Percy played the first few episodes of the  _Teen Wolf_  marathon for Nico. It was a quality show, Nico decided. Lots of attractive guys, too, just like Percy had said. 

~

One day in early November, Percy was late to lunch, but Nico wasn’t too concerned because he was wrapped up in an conversation with Leonard about how they thought they did on the language arts test they had had earlier that day. Percy rushed up to them, a giant grin on his face, which was becoming more commonplace as Percy settled back into his friendship with Annabeth and got over the romantic side of their relationship. He held up a piece of paper.

“Neeks,” he said behind his grin. “Read it.”

Nico complied, scanning the paper—a letter. It was done professionally: Times New Roman font, 12 point, with the all appropriate bells and whistles. Percy’d even had it proofread—Nico couldn’t find typos or anything. He chuckled a few times while reading it, and Percy smiled each time, proud of his work.

“This is great. Really well done, too.” Nico laughed.

Virginia looked up from her precalculus homework and put her calculator down. She leaned to the side and read it from where Nico was holding it. Soon it was passed around to the rest of the group. “You are gonna get killed,” Virginia sighed with a fond smile. “But it’s brilliant.”

“Well, you guys are two of the smartest people I know, so if I do get my ass kicked, I have you to blame,” he told his best friends.

“Don’t tell me you got Annabeth to edit it,” Chris commented. “Dyslexia or no dyslexia, this is too good to be only yours.”

“She read it, rolled her eyes, and got out her red pen,” Percy agreed. “Then she told me that if this didn’t end up getting me killed, my poor grammar would.”

Nico had tensed up immediately upon the mention of Annabeth. From what he could gather, Percy and Annabeth were good; turns out that the removal of Nico’s meddling reset them to normal, the same direction their friendship would have gone if Nico hadn’t tried to “fix things” in the first place.

At the same time, though, the last time he and Percy had talked about it was that one time where Percy was in the CHB infirmary and Nico almost professed his love for the first best friend he ever had. Nico didn’t really know where that left them, in that respect.

“I’m going to get Nico to sneak it in the freshmen administrator’s office after school,” Percy continued.

Nico nodded along until he realized what Percy’d just said. “Why me?”

“Well, you’re easily the stealthiest among the five of us. You can pickpocket. If we were at camp I’d probably get one of the Stoll brothers to do it, but you work just fine, I think.”

“Mostly you probably just want to laugh at me as I do it,” Nico corrected.

“True,” Percy laughed. “You always see through my facades.” Percy feigned melodramatics.

Nico stuck his tongue out in response, eliciting an eye roll from Virginia. “Stop flirting, you guys. It’s gross.”

Nico internally froze, afraid he had been found out. Percy laughed it off, so Nico followed suit, but he wondered what the older boy was thinking.

~

Percy met Nico at his locker. When Nico shut the door, he might have slammed it with more force than usual. What—he couldn’t help be nervous. What they were doing was probably illegal, and even if it wasn’t, he would’ve liked to avoid the disappointed look from Paul Blofis and the harsh fists of guys four times his weight in muscle.

“Relax, it’ll be fine,” Percy told him, but Nico had a sneaking suspicion that this was more to calm Nico down than an honest statement. “It’s not like you’ll get caught.”

They walked through the school, avoiding loud and weirdly dressed students, using the noise as a buffer for their own conversation. “I folded it up real nice and put it in an envelope,” Percy said, and brought out said envelope.

When Percy handed it to Nico, their fingers brushed. If either of them hadn’t been looking anywhere but each other, they would have noticed that both of them wore shy smiles and pink cheeks.

“The office is right by Paul’s room, so I can hang out there while you do your thing.”

“ _Your_ thing.”

“Our thing.”

That brought a smile to Nico’s face.

“Being the son of a teacher, I know things. At this time of the day, in this particular office, there’s only one faculty member present, except on Tuesdays when all the administrators have a meeting. And it’s Thursday. Obviously. So let’s just appear to be talking to each other while we wait for Mrs. Settles, the ninth grade administrator, to come out. It might take a little while but it’ll happen. Remember, I know things.” A sly grin.

“Okay, but Percy, we _are_ talking to each other right now.”

“You got me there,” Percy deadpanned.

Nico laughed.

Percy liked making Nico laugh.

He was one of the only people who could do it. Hazel, but that was a given. Nico’s strange friendship with Jason wasn’t exactly founded on humor, but the son of Jupiter could bring out a smile or small chuckle from Nico on occasion. More recently, as Nico became closer to Leonard than anyone else in their group (besides Percy, but Percy was always there, always implied when it came to Nico) he too could make the boy laugh, sometimes.

But Percy had a unique effect on Nico that brought out more grins and smirks and laughter lines in a month than Percy’d ever seen on Nico in the years they’d known each other. It went beyond Nico’s feelings for Percy: this wasn’t about how tragically in love Nico was, this was about the effect Percy had on him as a person. Truth was, Nico was his best self when he was around Percy, but even then there was more to it. Nico _could_ be that ideal self anytime, but with Percy, it was like a default state. There was no trying or pretending or fighting his mind.

Around everyone else, Nico would shut down and retreat inward whenever he was in a potentially vulnerable position, physical and emotional. On his good days, it took so much _effort_ to push back these desires. But around Percy, Nico was that person he wanted to be, easily and without contest.

Maybe that’s why Nico was so fucked up about Percy. Anyone else, and Nico never would have moved into his apartment or come out or almost willingly confess his feelings, not in a million years.

“What are you thinking about?” Percy asked, watching Nico curiously.

“You,” Nico said. He realized how that sounded and added, “Uh, just, how much my life’s changed since coming to live with you. You know, instead of working in the Underworld for my father I’m helping you execute illegal pranks in revenge of the mean guys at school. I never imagined life like this.”

“Well, I’ve gone to this school for multiple consecutive years without being expelled or even suspended, so I agree that things never turn out how you think they will.”

And that did it for Nico. He smiled real big then, one of those rare, genuine smiles that just radiated pure happiness. He looked up at Percy through his eyelashes, and there must’ve been some sort of look (Percy could have sworn it was love, but that couldn’t be it, right?) because Percy slowly asked, “What?”

Aphrodite was probably cursing like a sailor up on Olympus, because goddammit they were about to kiss.

Until a movement in Percy’s periphery ruined the moment.

“Mrs. Settles just left. She was holding some papers and a pack of printer ink so I think she was off to the copy room. We have time. Go on.” Percy didn’t lift his head as he spoke, but Nico moved his.

The boy with the brown eyes was redder than the strawberries from lunch, but nonetheless he walked into the office. The entire hallway around the office was barren now, Percy most likely having taken refuge in his stepfather’s classroom.

Wearing Percy’s blue gloves (an accusation of this caliber might’ve warranted a fingerprint scan to identify the anonymous sender), Nico placed the envelope on Mrs. Settles’ desk just so: not too visible yet not too invisible. Nico was sort of an expert on hiding, and he knew the location of the letter was imperative to keep him and Percy anonymous. If the letter was too obvious, Mrs. Settles would find it straight away and know who left it: the only two people around. Where he placed it, she would surely find it before she clocked out for the day, but it would be as if the letter were there all along, and she only noticed it now.

When he was finished, Nico motioned to Percy through Mr. Blofis’ open door to come back into the hallway.

Nico told Percy to position himself the way they were standing before, to keep up the appearance that they didn’t move during Mrs. Settles’ absence.

When Percy raised his eyebrows at this, Nico only said, “There is an exact science to this illusion.”

“Okay.” Percy complied, getting all up in Nico’s personal space. They were about to kiss, he swore they were about to kiss. Percy remembered the look in Nico’s eyes.

“So my mom got tickets to an Off-Broadway production of _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_. We’re going Saturday night. My mom figured since neither of us went to Homecoming, we might as well do something fun, so we looked up plays. And you’ve never seen it, have you?”

“ _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_? What’s it about?”

“Thought so.” Percy smirked. “You’ll love it. Have to dress up though, just a little.”

Nico had no idea what this play was about but he thanked the gods they were going to see it because he was going to see Percy in a button-down.

“Sounds great.”

“Yeah,” Percy agreed absentmindedly. He traced his finger down Nico’s arm, and basked in Nico’s contented shiver. This was fire on fire; this was so much more than the moments he’d had with Annabeth, much as he’d loved her. It would have been so easy to kiss Nico right then, but—

The PA system announced, “It is now three-thirty. All students who are not with a club or have a pass to be with a teacher are asked to leave the Goode campus.”

Another moment interrupted.

“Come on,” Nico said, trying not to let disappointment filter through his voice. “Let’s go home.”

Maybe Percy never would have admitted it aloud, but the fact that Nico now thought of the Jackson-Blofis residence as his _home_ really made his heart warm.

~

The next day, Percy was the last to arrive at lunch again. As he approached, he heard a conversation that made him stop and listen for a minute before making himself known.

“Where’s Percy?” This was Chris asking Nico.

“Dunno.”

“But you guys are dating, right? I would’ve thought he’d be with you.”

Nico spit out his milk. “Dating? Hardly. But…”

“But you like him,” Leonard teased. Nico blushed, betraying himself.

“Come on,” Virginia said, impatient. “It’s obvious he’s into you.”

Nico scowled. “How could you possibly know that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Ever since you got back from that family trip to California you took, he’s been showing the signs. Guess absence makes the heart grow fonder. It’s there, if you pay attention.”

“That can’t be…” Nico muttered, beside himself. There was no way…was there? He thought back to the day before, the times when they were close enough to kiss. “I don’t know, maybe,” he said, admitting the possibility that Percy could like him for the first time.

Percy didn’t know what to do, so he went into the lunch line, even though he brought his lunch that day. If he just walked up to the table they’d know he was eavesdropping.

It felt like there was water rushing through his ears, in the best way possible.

~

Since Percy and Nico still shared a room, on Saturday evening Percy changed first into a light blue button down and into a nicer pair of jeans. When he was finished, he went into the living room to watch TV and let Nico change.

He wondered what would have happened if they changed together at the same time.

When Nico emerged, in a black button-down and one of his multiple identical pairs of black jeans, Percy was stunned. Nico cleaned up nicely.

It had taken a long time for Percy to admit his feelings for Nico, but once he did, it came so naturally. It felt just like it did when he was crushing on Annabeth, and that’s how he knew it was real. Looking at him then, all Percy could think about was how much Nico had physically grown up lately, and, well, how hot he’d become.

The theatre was close enough to walk, and walk they did. Paul and Sally were a little ways ahead of the two teens, so Percy and Nico had some time to talk.

After what he’d overheard at lunch the day before, Percy figured he might as have fun. “So...I heard you have a crush on someone.”

Nico’s reaction was a testament of how much he had changed in the past weeks. Instead of clamming up and denying everything, like he would have done before, Nico simply raised an eyebrow.

“Where’d you hear that?”

“Remember, I know things.”

Making Nico lose himself laughing hadn’t exactly been Percy’s intention, but he was certainly okay with it. It was adorable, really. Although, Nico almost walked into oncoming traffic because he was laughing so much.

“You alright back there?” Paul called.

“We’re good,” Percy answered, now laughing too.

Sally smiled fondly. “Boys,” she muttered. It wouldn’t be too long now until they got over themselves and started a romantic relationship, she was sure of it.

~

They arrived at the theatre half an hour before showtime. Sally and Paul went off to find their seats and left the two boys to buy snacks for the family.

Percy and Nico stood on line for a few minutes, quietly making fun of all the really posh theatre buffs they could find to pass the time. When they reached the front, Percy said, “I’ll get a large popcorn, two cokes, a sprite, and a root beer.”

Percy was about to pull out the money his parents had given him for food, but Nico beat him to it. He gave Nico a look, questions in his eyes, but Nico just shook his head.

Nico carried the drinks in a cardboard tray and Percy got the popcorn. As they maneuvered through the crowd, Nico explained, “Your parents are treating us, so it’s only polite to contribute. Besides, my father is the god of wealth. Money pretty much grows on trees for me. Hades sends very generous welfare checks to compensate my legal orphan status.”

Nico was such a gentleman it made Percy fall for him even harder.“You’re adorable, you know.”

Nico’s heart was racing. So much, in fact, that he almost didn’t notice an usher leading an older couple into the house of the theatre. Nico stepped off to the side to let them by and knocked into Percy in the process. No damage was done, and Percy managed to save most of the popcorn. But now they were inches apart for the third time in three days, which was a dangerous thing, really.

Nico was feeling especially happy that day, so maybe that was why he took the risk. Life was short, the time was opportune, and he’d finally cracked from all the fantasies. He wanted to settle his internal debate about what Percy’s lips actually tasted like.

So, Nico leaned in ever so slightly, a hopeful smile toying on his lips; noticing this, Percy mirrored him. They met in the middle.

Percy’s lips tasted salty, like seawater was permanently etched in them. He smelled of blueberry a little.

Nico tasted like black licorice. Percy tried to remember if he’d been eating some before they left or if that was just all Nico, but all he could think about was the boy whose lips were attached to his. Guess he’d have more opportunities in the future to decide that.

When they parted, they wore matching stupid grins. Percy tucked a strand of Nico’s dark waves behind his ear, and Nico’s heart rumbled. He remembered imagining Percy doing that to Annabeth back when he thought Annabeth was the one Percy wanted to be with. Boy, was he wrong, in the best way.

Percy gestured for them to find their seats, and Nico managed to juggle all four soda bottles in one arm so he could hold hands with Percy.

They lost a some more popcorn while they were kissing, but it was okay since Percy’d clearly already had some. Nico tasted it on him.

They found their seats fairly quickly—it wasn’t difficult with Paul flailing his hand wildly and calling their names. Percy was next to his mom, with Paul and Nico on the outsides. Nico handed the cokes to Percy and Sally and the root beer to Paul. (“He doesn’t like Coke. Sometimes I wonder if he’s human.”)

When Percy took his coke from Nico, their hands brushed, and Nico blushed. He felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

Sally definitely noticed when Percy wrapped his arm around Nico’s shoulders, and she exchanged a glance with her husband. Percy’s finger lazily traced patterns on Nico’s black shirt, and it was difficult to concentrate on the play with that. Nico told Percy this, and Percy stopped—he really wanted Nico to enjoy himself that day.

But that requisite had already been fulfilled that day.

~

The normalcy of it all shocked Nico.

Percy, on the other hand, hadn’t been phased—he’d done this before, dated his best friend. And maybe he’d never have a friendship with Nico like he did with Annabeth, and maybe they couldn’t be considered dating yet, but still. It felt natural, and that only encouraged Percy. He didn’t believe in coincidences, and he kind of thought it would have happened anyway. That no matter the circumstances, they would have always ended up together, somehow, someway.

But circumstances did have a lot to do with it, Nico thought. Circumstances caused Juno to wipe Percy’s memories, which strengthened Percy and Annabeth’s love, and circumstances caused the two to plummet to Tartarus, which ruined their love. Nico liked to think they had more agency than that, that they weren’t just some puppets for the gods and the Fates to play with.

Nico knew that if he hadn’t opened himself up, this wouldn’t be happening. He did make the first move, after all.

The night of the play, they lay in their respective beds in Percy’s room, staring at the ceiling, just like they had months before on the first night of Nico's stay. Nico wanted to say something, but he didn’t know where to begin. There was entirely too much to say.

Percy started, “The day I was in the hospital at camp, you were gonna say something. What was it?”

Nico looked at Percy intently. He laughed, a little giddy and overwhelmed. “That was kind of the moment when it clicked for me. You know, that I can’t just hide away and pretend like I don’t care about anything. ”

Percy nodded. “I’ve noticed you’ve been a little more…”

“Me?” Nico asked. He _felt_ more like himself than he had in a long time.

“Yeah. I was gonna say that you remind me now more than ever of the little boy I met when I was fourteen. You didn’t have a care in the world, ‘cept for getting all the Mythomagic collectibles. I know you think that I didn’t care about you for years, but it really did hurt watching you spiral downwards and thinking there was nothing I could do about it.”

“I’ve liked you for a very long time, Perce. Since I met you, probably. It was different then: I didn’t understand it, it was just simple idolization. And even when I hated you, I could never shake those feelings.”

Percy’s mouth was dry. It was difficult to get words out. “Really?”

“That’s the thing about a love like that. I made you up into someone you weren’t. Because maybe you are the best hero of our generation but you’re not a god and you’re not perfect. Hero worship is not love, but that’s what I thought it was. It wasn’t until Croatia that I really sorted through my feelings, because I thought I was over you, I really did, but it was then I realized I wasn’t. And then you started talking to me again and I kind of fell for you again and—”

“Nico, breathe,” Percy laughed. “It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.” He smiled really big. “Come here.”

So Nico removed himself from the blow up mattress and crawled under Percy’s teal comforter.

They stayed there for a while, their bodies curling around each other’s. It wasn’t sexual, it was too early for that, then. It was excruciatingly innocent, pure. Raw. There weren’t any walls up. It was a new side of Percy Nico’d never seen and a new side of Nico Percy’d never seen.

After a while, Percy whispered, “Hey, Neeks?”

“Mmm-hmm?” Percy wasn’t sure if he found Nico’s sleepy voice adorable or sexy. Both, probably.

“Promise to not try to make my decisions for me on who I wanna be with?”

Nico laughed. Hindsight was a fickle thing. “Yeah, I promise.” He hugged Percy closer.

They ended up falling asleep like that.

The next morning, Percy was awoken at some ridiculous hour by...music. But it wasn’t the kind of stuff he was used to hearing. Lacking the internet in most facets of his life, Percy grew up listening to the old records his mom put on. Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, that kind of thing.

He listened for a minute or two. This music was different. It was loud and banging and too much for the hour of the morning, but somehow it was okay.

By then, Nico had sat up, hair curly from sleep. He grinned sheepishly. “Guess I forgot to shut off my alarm?”

Percy didn’t mind. He couldn’t catch all the lyrics of the upbeat song, but it did have quite a lot of na na na’s in it. “What is this? It’s nice, actually.”

Nico laughed. “My Chemical Romance. It’s that band you think is a clothing brand.”

Percy shrugged and took Nico’s hand, bringing him to his feet. They danced crazily for the rest of the song. A song that Nico said was called ‘Headfirst for Halos’ came on next, and one after one, they managed to get through a good third of Nico’s MCR music, dancing and laughing and maybe kissing too.

As Nico sang the last lines of ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ Percy couldn’t help but comment, “You know, Neeks, I never thought I’d be dancing along to punk music with my boyfriend at nine on a Sunday morning.”

Nico raised an eyebrow, “Is that what I am?”

“You tell me.”

And if their lips were swollen when they emerged for breakfast, neither of Percy’s parents mentioned it.

 


End file.
